Puzzled
by INVU4URAQT
Summary: Sakura was an expert puzzle solver and developed the ability to pick out patterns from a jumble. So, she joined the JTPS as a cryptologist. She's given a mission which perplexes her to no end since nothing and no one is as innocent as they appear hiatus
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone! This is my second fic but my first CCS fic. Just wanted to let you know. Anyway, this fic is AU but there is some magic in it. It's not that obvious but at the end of each chapter I challenge you to try and spot where it is and tell me in a review. Anyway, one note; logic books are books filled with word searches. And for those of you that don't know what a word search is, it's where your given a grid of letters and a list of words and you have to search for the words from the list in the grid. I'm sure you'll know what it is now!

**Key:**  
"...**enter words here**..." - Speech  
'...**enter words here**...' - Thoughts  
(...**enter my notes here**...) - Author's notes! Yay!

Okay that's it. So um...let's start the story shall we?

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A twelve year old girl with auburn hair and emerald green eyes sat under a cherry blossom tree with a book in her hand. This book was a world champion class logic book. She seemed to have been breezing through it very easily. A short distance away, a small group of mysteriously cloaked figures was observing her carefully.

**10 years later...**

"We are your best, last, and only line of defence against a specialist terrorist group who seem to use almost… superhuman-like abilities in their workings and yes our top agent is a girl. I'd like you to meet Sakura Kinomoto…"

A now 22 yr old Sakura sat at her desk quietly biding her time with the 2005 world champion class logic book. Surprisingly this was what she was paid to do. Not exactly logic books but solving puzzles, generally. She was so engrossed in her work that she didn't notice a chestnut coloured haired gentleman walk into the room. (A/N: This is NOT Syaoran. I repeat NOT Syaoran….though it did look like him didn't it? XP) He glanced at her and walked over. Realizing that she did not notice him yet, he gently tapped her on the shoulder. He sighed softly as he saw that she still wasn't aware of his presence. Bending over her shoulder, he swiftly pecked a kiss on her cheek. Finally breaking out of her reverence she looked at him and yelled, "What the- I'm almost done! Gosh!" She then attempted to continue with the puzzle she was currently trying to solve. However, she found it quite futile with the disturbance that she had experienced. Groaning in exasperation, she closed the book and glared at him.

"Why the heck did you kiss me Hakujou!" She demanded.

"Hey- uh- um…I'm sorry about that but Namikawa-san wants to see you." The man stated nervously.

"It's okay Tatsu, I'm just kind of stressed." Sakura replied looking down.

"Probably because you didn't take your vacation." Tatsu stated.

She looked at him and it seemed that she had made a decision. "That's a great idea. You're absolutely right Tatsu; I'm going to ask the boss for my vacation!" She said triumphantly while walking out the door and heading towards her boss's office.

Tatsu stared at where the emerald eyed girl was previously standing. "Bu- but, he's going to give you a new assignment!" He shouted after her. It didn't seem as though the girl had heard and he sighed in defeat. "Oh well she deserves a vacation from all the work she's been doing around here." He looked at her desk and saw piles of completed logic books. He sighed once again and walked out of the office.

**In the boss's office...**

The door burst open and the man sitting at the desk looked up. Recognising the auburn haired girl, he put down the pen he was writing with and smiled at her. He beckoned her to have a seat and when she was comfortable, he asked, "Ah Kinomoto-san, I've been waiting for you."

"Yeah I heard sir, and there was also something I wanted to ask of you." She replied.

"Well what is it?" He enquired looking at her.

"I was wondering, sir, if I could have my vacation for the next week since I didn't take it during this month." She stated saying every word clearly so that she wouldn't have to repeat herself. She thought it rather embarrassing for the top code breaker in the organization to ask for a vacation. The man looked at her as if she were crazy. "But Kinomoto-san, we have your next mission ready for you!"

"Well I'm sorry sir but I think I require a break from all the work I've been doing so far. I have worked for the entire of summer vacation. Why not just spare me the last week? Please sir." She stated with a slight pleading tone to her voice.

The man, Namikawa, looked at her for a while and sighed. "Very well then Kinomoto, you will take the next week off but as soon as you come back, report to me immediately for your next mission." He said rather dejectedly.

"Thank you sir, I promise I will make good use of my time." She said while getting up.

"I expect nothing less of you Kinomoto." The boss replied. "Now go on, you don't want to waste the opportunity of an early vacation now do you?"

"No sir. Arigatou gozaimasu." She said fondly and left the room. Sakura nearly jumped for joy when she left the room, but, as a respected member of the Japanese Terrorism Prevention Society, she decided against it. She nodded at the secretary and calmly walked out of the pale green building and onto the pavement. Her step was brisk and her head down. She tilted her head up and closed her eyes, enjoying the wind against her face as she walked.

Suddenly, she was slammed into the wall of the building next to her. She opened her eyes hastily and saw a man around her age with navy blue hair and azure eyes. He was sprawled on the sidewalk and quickly got up. He turned towards her and opened his mouth to say something but she beat him to it.

"I am SO sorry! It's my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going! Are you alright sir?" She asked trying to dust him off.

The man looked at her and smiled. "Yes I'm fine thank you, so sorry for bumping into you, but I have to go so if you'll excuse me I'll be on my way." He said.

"Oh yes of course, sorry again." She said.

"It's no problem. Goodbye Sakura." He said with another smile and walked off.

She smiled at his retreating figure and then started back on her way. She stopped. 'Wait, how did he know my name?' She thought. 'I probably told him, he seemed like a nice gentleman.' She resolved and then continued on her journey.

She stopped outside a small light pink house and slid the key inside the lock. She opened the door only to come face to face with another door. She put her palm against the wall in a particular space and the door opened. However she came face to face with another door. She typed in the code for the door and was finally granted access to her house. It was small but quaint. She went inside but came out almost immediately after. Although this was her house, she rarely spent any time in it. She just slept, ate and bathed in there. Most of her time was spent next door in a larger building also owned be her. This was her haven. Inside the large building, she stocked multiple copies of almost every logic book in the world. She went inside and looked around at her neatly stacked collection. This was merely used to keep her skills sharp. She walked around admiring the shelves full of books until she came to a shelf with one empty space. You see, she had ALMOST every logic book. There was one however that she had been searching for, for years, and lucky enough for her she had found the last available copy was in a store in Japan. "It's time." She whispered to herself. She went back to the entrance, grabbed her keys and headed to the 'Ruby Moon'; the famous café/bookstore in the heart of Japan. Or so she thought.

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Okay that's it for chapter 1!Hope you liked it. Anyway can you spot the magic in this chapter? It is kind of obvious. Well tell me what you think in a review!

Oh and if some of you didn't get what I meant by 'Or so she thought', you'll find out in the next chapter so stay tuned! XD later ppl!


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone. Thanks to the following people for reviewing:

**inu-osuwari** – Good try but no that wasn't the magic in this chapter. XD Thanks for your review! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

**xio34** – Thanks for your review! About the whole haven/heaven thing, a haven is like a refuge sort of so it's where she likes to go. I didn't exactly mean heaven. But thanks anyway, I'm glad you liked it! Enjoy this chapter!

**Sirenic Griffin** – XD Well that's okay! I won't pelt a shoe at you. Thanks for the review anyway. Glad you liked it! Enjoy!

**Story Weaver 1** – Thanks for your review and trust me a lot is in store for our little cherry blossom XD Well anyway enjoy this chapter!

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The magic in the last chapter was when Eriol magically knew Sakura's name. Congratulations to all those who guessed right!

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Oh and one point that was brought to my attentionwas that my A/N in the last chapter appeared in the middle of the sentence. They were supposed to be in square brackets but I didn't know that they wouldn't show up so in this chapter I'll be sure to put them in REGULAR brackets. Okay that's all the Author's notes for now on with the story.

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Sakura walked down the streets, her head down once more. She was trying not to close her eyes this time but she couldn't resist the urge. She felt free when the wind blew on her face and she felt as though the world would never end but she knew that because of her occupation that her life was in danger every second of every day. -She had opened her eyes at this point- Even though she was only the brains of the operation; lots of people had already tried to kill her. They were always after her talent. She was glad however that the JTPS trained all their personnel to fight this meant that she wasn't totally helpless when the terrorists tried kidnapping her. 

Sakura had been so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice when the environment around her had changed. She had gone from being surrounded by newly constructed buildings to dilapidated ones. She took out a piece of paper that was in her pocket and read what was on it. She nodded and cautiously continued in the direction she was headed. She stopped in front of one of the run-down building and checked the slip of paper again. 'This is the right address.' She thought. She looked at the building again and noticed a sign on the top 'Ruby Moon Café'. She was puzzled for a moment. She heard that this was a world renowned bookshop; it surely didn't look like one.

She put her hands in her pockets and decided to look inside the building and see if there was anything there. She slowly opened the door and gasped a bit at the inside of the building. It was majestic; a complete opposite to the outside appearance. Inside looked rich and elegant. There were plush armchairs at various places, chandeliers hung from the roof and shone brilliantly. The café area had lavish food stuff and exotic drinks being served. The bookshop section was carpeted with a rich burgundy carpet and the walls were painted the same burgundy with gold trimmings. It seemed as though you were transported to a different world.

Sakura then thought of what her father had taught her before he had died, 'Don't judge a book by its cover'. She laughed a little at the irony and then made her way to the clerk behind the counter (A/N: In case you didn't get it, the irony is that it's a bookshop. You know, book by its cover… I guess you don't get it…oh well whatever). As she walked past the tables she realised that the place was actually as dead as the community it was in. There was hardly anybody there and the one or two people, who were there, were either sleeping or looking as though they would fall asleep any second.

She reached the bookshop's clerk and noticed her asleep. She poked the blonde haired girl in hopes of waking her up but it didn't work. "Hello?" She called to her but it still didn't work. She shook the girl with some force but the young girl stayed slumbering. Sakura was about to shake her harder when a voice sounded behind her. "She's not going to get up you know."

Sakura turned around abruptly and saw a boy who she hadn't seenwhen she came in. He had chestnut coloured hair and his boyish face was adorned with deep, amber eyes that were observing her carefully. She recomposed herself and asked, "And why is that?"

The boy, who was reading a newspaper and sipping his coffee, smirked and folded the newspaper he was reading, he rested it on the table and replaced the coffee mug on the coaster. "Well, she's been asleep for a few days now."

Sakura gasped, "Are you sure she's not dead?" She hurriedly checked her pulse and realised that it was normal. The girl was fine.

"I checked her pulse already." The boy said and Sakura turned around again only to come face to face with him. She jumped a little and took a few steps back.

"Well that's good I guess." She looked around. "But since she's not awake I guess I better go." She started to leave but was stopped by the boy.

"Oh no please stay." He said, "I can help you with whatever you need. This is my friend's bookshop and I know my way around here better than most."

Sakura turned around again and said, "Okay, in that case, I was wondering… if you have a book I'm looking for."

The boy cracked a knowing smirk and said, "And what might that book be."

Sakura looked at him peculiarly and then looked around the store. "I was wondering if you had 'Clow's Logic Puzzles Fifth Edition'." Her gaze then landed on a book that was showcased in the middle of the store. "That's the book there." She said pointing at the showcased book and then looking back at the boy.

"Oh that's the book you want? Well I don't think that book's for sale." He said putting on another knowing smile.

Sakura looked at him suspiciously. 'What does this boy know that I don't' she thought. She nodded and said, "But I must have that book!" She then walked up to an armchair and sat down still watching him carefully.

The boy took a seat opposite her and asked, "And why exactly do you need this book? What are you going to do with it?" He glanced at her and observed her again.

Sakura was very self conscious with his stare and looked away from him. "Well you see, I have a collection and I need that book to complete it." She said a little too hastily. Sakura mentally cursed herself for speaking too quickly while at the same time praising herself for not stuttering.

The boy looked at her then at the book, "I'm very sorry Miss. But that book is not for sale. It's a classic and my friend doesn't want to give it up. It's surprising though, you're the only person who's ever come here wanting that book. Others couldn't care less about it."

Sakura glared at him, finally frustrated with his 'knowing' glances and smirks "It's like I said, sir, I have a collection and I need that book to complete it. But I guess since your friend isn't willing to give up the book, I'll just go now and not bother you any longer." She then got up from the armchair and walked toward the door.

"Wait Sakura," he said.

"How do you know my name!" She demanded and turned around.

"It's on your purse, which you left on the armchair." The boy said pointing at the purse.

Sakura sighed and returned her thanks. She retrieved the purse and walked out of the store. She was a little bewildered to see the broken down surroundings but soonignored them and fell into thought. 'My purse? How could I have left my purse! And why did I decide tocarry the purse with my name on it? Oh kami-sama, I think I'm going crazy. I don't even remember carrying a purse. Wait a minute, this is like that situation earlier with that gentleman who bumped into me. I don't remember telling him my name either, but, I already decided that I probably did because he seemed like a good man.' She sighed. She was confused and she knew it. 'I'm confused. But I'm the top code breaker in the JTPS for goodness sakes, how can I get confused!' She contorted her face in confusion and looked up. She stopped in her tracks when she realised that she was back in the city. She became even more confused but disregarded it and continued on her way home.

She arrived at the small pink building a little while later and went through all the measures of security. She dropped herself on the couch and slowly exhaled. 'I need to do some puzzling.' She thought and got up. She then exited her house and went inside the building next door.

She had just gotten started on her fourteenth puzzle when an idea struck her; why not open this place up to the public. The idea had just randomly popped in her mind. She stopped mid-puzzle and looked around the building. She had completed most of the puzzles in the books and knew most of them by heart by now; why not share it with people who enjoyedher passion as well. All she really needed to do was to put some more chairs and tables, which she could easily take from her house, and then it could be an ideal place for people to come and do puzzles. She then decided that she would open the place tomorrow and until the end of her vacation. 'One week' she thought. She nodded and got up excitedly. She replaced the book where she had found it and hurriedly started moving tables from her house into the building.

When she was done, it was about five thirty in the evening. She sat down in one of the newly moved chairs and sighed with a lopsided smile on her face. 'Now, all I need is a name.'

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Okay that's it for this chapter! I hope it didn't have TOO much dialogue and I hope you liked it too! Don't expect the next chapter for a while I'm really busy now a days sadly. 

Well for this chapter, there are many instances of magic!You have to name at least ONE but if you're really idle then you can name all!

See ya'll next chapter! Later!


	3. Chapter 3

Hey everyone! I decided to upload this chapter now before exams because I definately would not be able to post anything in the coming month. Well anyway thanks to those who reviewed! 

**Different Girl** – Thanks! I hoped it would be unique because there are a lot of stories with the same idea out there. Enjoy this chapter!

**Story Weaver 1** – Thanks for another review! And yup! You got all the magic instances! Congratulations! Enjoy this chapter and see if you can spot the magic in this one!

Hope you like this chapter!

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Sakura was putting the final touches on the items in her building which she had named 'Puzzled'. She had spent hours the previous night trying to come up with names and she finally decided on 'Puzzled' which she thought was perfect. She looked around the inside and grinned. The tables each had four chairs around them and were adorned with a multitude of pens and pencils. The chairs and tables were all mismatched which gave it a more funky look than anything else. The walls were painted a light blue previously and Sakura was thankful because it added to the cheerful atmosphere. 

She walked outside the building and looked up at the sign that she hung last night. It was a pale pink sign with the word 'Puzzled' in the centre in a deep pink outlined in a forest green. There were random splashes of yellow and purple paint in the background. She grinned wider and turned to face the street. She looked at the pavement and picked up a sheet of paper that had been blown there a few seconds before. She studied it and she sighed. The paper in her hand was a flyer. She had handed out many the night before, after she had finished moving the tables, at the mall and she was hoping that she had a good turn out of people.

She went inside and came out half hour later at around nine thirty, because she was due to open at quarter to ten. However when she had gone outside there was already a line of about fifteen people waiting outside. She smiled to herself and went onto the pavement. She looked at the people and opened the double doors for them to enter. As each person entered she welcomed them and thanked them for coming, the whole while grinning madly. She followed the last person in and invited everyone to start puzzling.

Throughout the day more and more people had turned up and there was a point in the day when no more chairs were available and she had to go get more from her house. She was in heaven when she saw people laughing and joking with each other all while trying to decipher the puzzles.

At around three in the afternoon, a gentleman had entered the building with a little girl of about eight years old. When Sakura had looked to the entrance, she gasped and dropped the book that she had in her hand. The man looked at her and smirked a little. He walked over with the girl and stopped in front of her. She got up and looked him square in the eye. It was the same man that she had met in the bookstore the day before.

"She wants to do some puzzles." The man said indicating the little girl.

"Um, okay well just let her choose a book and start. You can leave her here it's very safe." She said smiling nervously and then tried to get away from the man, because for some reason he intimidated her a bit.

"Well I can't just leave her here no matter how safe this place is. Her mother would kill me. Or try to at least." He had whispered the last part but due to the training Sakura had done by joining the JTPS, she heard it clearly and looked him up and down before dismissing it but leaving a mental note to herself to be careful around him. She turned back to him and gave a smile that she hoped would pass for real and then said, "Okay well we'll just have to sign her in." She then walked over to the desk in the front and took out a note book from one of the drawers. "Okay so what's her name?" She asked pointing to the little girl.

"It's Li Mei…" He said briskly and monotonically. Sakura looked him in the eyes for a while, carefully trying to decipher his character. However her attempt was to no avail when she remembered the day before when he seemed to be toying with her. She then looked down upon the girl, known as Li Mei, and reached for her hand to lead her towards one of the tables. Sakura then walked to the desk in front and signalled to the man to approach the desk. He complied and was near the desk within seconds.

She looked up into his amber eyes and was momentarily lost in the depth that they held. The man then spoke while staring back at her, "Aren't you going to sign me in?" She jumped a little and chuckled nervously before replying rather shakily, "Uh, yeah, of course. Um…what's your name again? I didn't catch it the first time."

She then looked away in an attempt to not be entranced by his eyes again. He responded by saying, "There was no first time. Just call me Li." He then placed his left hand in his pant pocket whilst the other moved to brush back his already messy chestnut hair, which moments later simply fell back to its original position.

"I'm sorry sir but I need a full name." She murmured softly looking back to him. A slight smirk crossed his visage as he licked his lips before replying rather smugly, "In that case…Li Syaoran." She was once again hypnotised by the fierce yet comforting look in his eyes. His smirk widened at this realisation and he leaned in slowly. When his face was in mere centimetres of hers, she snapped out of her trance blinking rapidly and backing away. "Um…yeah thanks." She said rather nervously as she frantically searched around for the pen she thought she just held in her hand. "Need a pen?" He inquired still with a rather smug look on his face.

"Uh…yeah…I seemed to have misplaced mine." She said still looking for it on the desk.

"Here." He said offering a pen which mysteriously resembled the one that was supposedly misplaced. She took it rather unwillingly but at the same time gratefully and proceeded to fill out the registry. Looking at the pen more closely, she noticed it looked exactly like hers and after filling out the necessary information, she looked back up at him and then at the pen and enquired, "Isn't this mine?" She returned her gaze to him and waited for an answer.

"No your pen is over there with my niece." He said while pointing toward the furthest table from the desk they were at. When she looked over, she chuckled nervously at the realisation that he was indeed correct and returned his pen to him. After which she walked over and looked upon the girl with her pen and wondered aloud, 'How did she get my pen?' She shrugged it off and gently replaced the pen in the girl's hand with another from off the table. Turning back toward Li she noticed he was gone from where she had left him. She turned back only to be met with the site of him helping the young girl with a puzzle. Multiple thoughts raced through her mind, 'When did he- How did he- Wha?' She sighed aloud and shook her head muttering softly, "I really needed this vacation…"

She then turned to walk back to the front desk when the gentleman appeared by her side. She glanced sideways at him and found him looking at her whilst walking instep with her. Suddenly startled, she fell back onto an empty table and rubbed her sore bum looking back at him. "Need some help?" He asked politely with an extended hand. She reached for his hand but at the last second he pulled back and said, "If I help you, you have to go out with me." He then extended the hand once more. She was taken aback by his sudden offer but still accepted the help by grabbing his hand.

"I'm guessing that's a yes." He told her simply. "Not exactly," She said, "If you can beat me at time trial, then I'll go with you." She challenged him seeming rather confident in her abilities. He looked at her slightly surprised at this sudden change of personality, she seemed much more confident now. He then said while helping her up, "Just be sure to have a dress ready." She stood on her own and looked at him in disgust. His arrogance seemed too obvious now, she had to win.

Moving back toward the front desk, she turned on a microphone which had been installed by the previous owner of the building. She then spoke into the microphone saying, "Ladies, gentlemen and kids of all ages, we have a special treat for you today. A time trial challenge will be performed by me and the gentleman standing before you." All eyes had turned toward Li who had remained where he was seemingly unfazed by the attention. "Please enjoy the show." She continued.

Soon a table had been cleared and set up with two of the same puzzle, two pens and one stop clock, the rules were simple, first to finish would stop the clock and be declared winner. Taking their seats opposite to one another, a bystander approached the table to act as a starter. (A/N: I am Ms. Referee! This will be a time puzzle challenge! Puzzlers ready? Robattle! XD) As soon as the bystander signalled for them to start, both contenders grabbed their pens and began immediately.

The crowd was silent and as tense as the contenders themselves. Actually only one contender seemed tense the other seemed quite relaxed. After no more then two and a half minutes, both contestants reached for the stop clock at the same time. However, there hands collided before either reached the clock. They stared at each other and then at the ticking clock. Sakura reached out and stopped the clock which at that time read three minutes. She looked at it in shock and realised that three minutes was less time than the current world record for a puzzle of that type and difficulty. She jumped up and screamed for joy as she recognised that she had broken the world record. She hugged random people and grabbed the first person she got hold of and danced around the room with them. She soon realised that the person she was dancing with was Syaoran and she immediately stopped.

"So what time should I pick you up?" He asked. "Huh, I said that I would go if you beat me, which you didn't, we tied. But because you're the only person to ever come so close to beating my time then…..I guess I could make an exception." She winked at him and walked toward the exit. Everyone was filing out of the building now and he had gone to get his niece. As he was leaving, Sakura yelled out to him, "Pick me up at seven! Oh and you choose the place!" He acknowledged that he heard her and turned toward his niece who was tugging at his pant leg. "Uncle, why did you take it easy on her?" She asked him innocently.

"Shh…it's okay it doesn't matter now." He replied while they walked out however, Sakura overheard this conversation and could only wonder exactly who he was and more importantly what he was hiding.

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Okay that was a bit longer than my others so enjoy and just remember I won't be posting anything for a while so don't get worried if I don't post in a two months or something. Anyway, later people andmake sureto review! 

PS: Did you spot the magic?


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, I'm REALLY sorry about not updating for so long! But luckily, I have a good excuse! Well...ok not really. But I did warn you guys so you can't complain. Anyway, I actually did have writer's block for the majority of my time away and I finally got rid of it a couple days ago so I can continue writing. So here's the 4th installment!

**Reviewers:**

**youkaigirl64** - Thanks for the review! Hope you enjoy this chapter

**FlowerLover** - Glad you like the story, hope you like this chapter too

**Lain in the Wired** - Thanks so much for the review, hope you enjoy this chapter just as much as the others

**twilight-star1** - Thanx! I hope you like this chapter.

**Story Weaver** - Thanx for ther review. And once again, you guessed the magic. Congratulations! And no Syaoran isn't a player XD, you'll see eventually why he had to be like that.

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The magic in the last chapter was when the pen kept disappearing and reappearing. 

Onward with the story!

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The last few people had just left the building and Sakura felt content to just sit down and relax in between her multiple shelves of puzzle books. She sighed as she rested her head back and said, "Wow, and today was only the first day." She smiled happily to herself as she remembered that she had five more days until she had to go back to work. She then looked at her watch and saw 6:55 pm. She got up and headed toward the door. She planned to take a long hot bath before going to bed that night. 

She reached the door and was surprised to see someone there. Well, more like the shadow of someone. She instantly became paranoid and cautiously spoke. "Sorry, I'm closing now" she said trying to discern the face in the shadows. The person then spoke softly, "Well, I would have hoped you would have closed a bit earlier seeing as how you have somewhere to go tonight." The person then stepped forward from the shadows. Sakura then clasped her hand to her mouth in remembrance. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry Li-kun! I completely forgot!" She frantically locked the door of her puzzle sanctuary and hurried next door. "Well, we can put it off for another day," Syaoran said trying to sound disappointed but the ominous tone was still present. However, in her frantic state, Sakura didn't pick up the slight teasing in his voice and said, "No it's okay, I just lost track of time." She had finally managed to open her door and beckoned Syaoran inside. "Um, just, uh, make yourself at home while I get ready," she said and then ran off in the direction Syaoran presumed the bathroom was in.

He stayed fixed in his spot for ten minutes and observed the house. It was cozy, he would admit, but it wasn't used much. He then walked in the opposite direction Sakura had gone and went through the first door he saw, that led him to the kitchen. It was white, almost godly white, and everything was in it's place, neat and tidy. Everything was clean, not a single stain anywhere. Syaoran shuddered and whispered to himself, "Reminds me of Eriol's..." He then walked over to the fridge and opened it. It was empty. There was nothing there except a few bottles of water and a carton of milk.

"Like my fridge?" Said a voice behind him. He looked up toward the doorway where he saw Sakura's head, adorning a sheepish smile, poking in, and replied, "It's...empty.." Sakura grinned sheepishly again and said, "Yeah well, I don't spend much time at home."

"I realised.." He replied and closed the fridge door. He straightened out his forest green tux jacket and tucked his shirt in more. He turned to the doorway and started to walk while saying, "I hope you 'dressed up', because we're going somewhere 'fancy'." He said it with slight malice in his voice and a dangerous look in his eye which disappeared soon after. "Sure did!" Sakura said brightly with a big smile on her face. "I was gonna ask whether it was formal or not but I judged it on how you dressed." He looked her up and down and then replied, "Indeed." It was a long strapless light pink dress which flared at the bottom. It had a continuous flower pattern on the skirt of the dress and on top, there were several silk flowers positioned in random places. She had a pair of white gloves on her hands which reached her elbows and she wore baby pink high heeled shoes on her feet. Around her neck, she wore a necklace with a cherry blossom pendant and matching hanging earrings adorned her ears.

Syaoran then brushed past her toward the door. He opened it and held it open expecting her to walk through but she was still in the same position outside the kitchen. "What are you waiting for?" He asked. "I'm waiting for you to say something about my dress.." She whispered shyly. "Like what?" He enquired slightly agitated. "I don't know, maybe something like you like pretty or the dress takes you well?" She said and folded her arms indignantly. "Fine, you look pretty and the dress takes you well, better?" He replied in a dull tone of voice. "Not quite what I was looking for, but thanks anyway I guess." She said rather baffled at his 'unique' response. "Whatever, shall we get going?" He then looked at his watch and continued, "It's 7:20 and our reservation was at 7:00." He said calmly still holding the door open. "Oh, yeah sorry, let's go."

She walked through the door with Syaoran close behind. He walked past her and straight to a sleek black Ferrari Enzo which seemed brand new and of showroom quality. As he walked to the driver's seat, Sakura noticed that the moonlight shone on the head and roof of the car and there was a kaleidescope effect. The car had the ability to appear different colours in different levels of light. The area in which the light shone the brightest, had a velvety purple colour which faded smoothly into a deep blue, becoming darker and darker until it finally seemed black. Sakura then realised that when she was going into her house with him earlier, she hadn't seen the car. This then gave her more reason to be cautious around this mysterious man as memories of that afternoon echoed in her mind.

**FLASHBACK**

He turned toward his niece who was tugging at his pant leg. "Uncle, why did you take it easy on her?" She asked him innocently.

"Shh…it's okay it doesn't matter now." He replied while they walked out.

**END FLASHBACK**

Sakura thought on this a while. They had just broken the world record of the hardest level of puzzling and he wasn't even trying. This meant that...he was on a completely different level to the world. A higher level that no one had ever achieved until now. She gasped slightly at this revelation; this man was not normal...

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Yeah yeah I know, it's short for two months of being away but bear with me, ne? I had major writer's block. Sorry for any spelling/grammaticalerrors, and I hope you liked it!There wasn't any magic in this chapter...I think but if you can spot some, please tell me XD It's kinda pathetic I know, not even knowing whether there's magic in my own chapters. Oh well, til next chapter! 

- INVU4URAQT


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**: Wow it's been a while oo Well as usual I don't really have a good excuse other than a busy schedule but this chapter is kind of long I think. Well I hope you're all happy with it since it's taken so long. Oh and since I can't thank my reviewers one by one, I'll thank them all together and I'll just point out those who 'spotted the magic' at the end of each chapter. So, on with the story!

* * *

"Are you coming?" Syaoran enquired. Sakura was suddenl snapped from her thoughts and saw Syoaran standing holding the car door open. Sakura's paranoia increased as she saw him standing there looking at her. This man who had only been in her life for two days but confused her so much. She took a step backward and she knew her fear was evident in her eyes. Then she heard her home-phone ring. She turned instantly and ran back inside while shouting back to him, "Excuse me a minute!" 

He sighed and looked at his watch again; seven thirty. He looked back toward the house and closed the car door. At that instant, he pulled from his pocket, his cellphone, and held his finger over the answer button. He was debating whether he should answer the call when the cell rang or not. But he knew he had to...he always had to. "Eriol," he said dully into the phone after hearing the ringtone.

"Ah, Syaoran. Where are you? You were supposed to be here an hour ago." The other man's voice replied on the other end of the call.

"Yeah I know. But I'm actually waiting on my date tonight." Syaoran spoke monotonically.

"Date? You? Well I wouldn't want to miss this," Eriol jokingly said.

"Whatever, later," Syaoran said before hanging up and walking over to the driver's seat.

Sakura hung the phone back on the receiver after telling the caller it was a wrong number, and had begun to walk back to the frontdoor when a chilling revelation dawned on her; someone called her home-phone, only those in the JTPS even knew she had a phone and none of them would call her anyway. The phonebook didn't have her number either so wrong numbers were practically impossible for her to get. She stared blankly and slowly sank onto the couch behind her. 'Okay Sakura, calm down...' She breathed in a deep breath and sighed aloud, 'You just need to breath and count to ten...one...two...three...four...five...six...seven...eight...nine'

As her mind paused before the final number, she heard a familiar voice cut through the silence, "Ten!" Her eyes shot open in surprise and she looked around. However, she was no longer in her living room, she was now in a rapidly moving car. "Huh? What happened?" She blurted out confusedly. A voice on her left replied, "I said, ten minutes until we arrive, but I think I can make it in five." Recognising the voice as Syaoran's, Sakura replied still baffled at how she got in the car, "Um, I think you're going fast enough as it is."

"Well I don't." As he spoke the last syllable, his foot pressed even further down on the gas pedal. The engine revved as Sakura was pushed further back into her seat. She glanced out of the window only to see a blur of colours moving past. "How fast are we moving?" She practically shouted at him.

"About..210 km/hr" He said with a casual smirk not even glancing at the dashboard. Her eyes widened as she yelled back, "But the speed limit is 80!" He glanced at his watch keeping one hand on he wheel as he swirved through the 'slow' moving cars. Sakura looked at him in shock and was about to pray for her life when she was interrupted by the screeching and swirving of the car she was currently in, into a parking space. She was suddenly jerked forward when the car stopped instantly and Syaoran said, still glancing at his watch, "Yep, five minutes, just like I said."

Sakura looked over to him disbelievingly. He glanced back at her and then said, "Let's go." He opened the door and got out of the car. He walked around to Sakura's side and opened the door for her. All the while Sakura still had her eyes wide with shock, 'What have I gotten myself into...?' she asked herself before stepping out of the car. He closed the door after her and started to walk toward the entrance. Sakura followed after him and mentally noted everything about the man. She was sure that by the end of the night, he would have driven her crazy. She sighed and made to catch up with him.

They stopped a little away from the entrance and stared at a long line of people standing outside itching to go in. She looked up at the building and saw a glowing blue sign flashing the name 'Reed's'. She had heard how popular this place was but she never expected to see a line of people the length of a football field standing outside. She looked back at her side only to find that Syaoran had already walked off and was heading toward the entrance, bypassing the people who had been waiting in line for probably hours. She ran after him and yanked his arm turning him around in a flash. "What are you doing?" she quietly demanded.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" He replied and continued on his previous path.

"It looks like you're skipping the line!" she yelled at him while jumping infront of him.

He smirked, "What of it?"

"What do you mean 'What of it', you can't just skip! Who knows how long these people have been here waiting to get in!' She said frustratedly.

He looked her in the eye calmly, gently pushed her out of the way and continued walking toward the waitress at the entrance of the restaurant with Sakura following close behind dejectedly.

"Ah, Mr. Li, a little late aren't you?" The waitress playfully jested.

"Yes, well, I was waiting for my date." The waitress cast her glance over Syaoran's shoulder and saw Sakura, "Oh yes, you're date." She replied. Her eyes, still on Sakura, had a mysterious glint in them. "Follow me right this way then. Your usual table I presume?" the waitress said while leading them in between tables adorned with various dishes. The waitress finally stopped at a secluded table at the back of the restaurant that overlooked a lake. She then left them and went back to the entrance to usher in other guests. When they were seated, another waitress bounded toward them and pulled out a notepad from the pocket in her apron. "Hello, my name is Tomoyo and I'll be your waitress this evening. What can I get for you?" the chirpy waitress asked,

"Just the usual for me." Syaoran replied.

"Right away Mr. Li! And you, Miss?" The waitress smiled at Sakura. "Uh... I'll just have what he's having.." Sakura replied unsurely.

"Of course! So that's two double chocolate fudge brownies with a scoop of german chocolate ice-cream on top. Coming right up!" The waitress then skipped merrily to what Sakura assumed was the kitchen and disappeared behind the door. "That's what you usually have at a restaurant like this?" Sakura asked smiling.

"Meh, what can I say, I like chocolate?" Syaoran replied with a grin.

The night moved along at a quick enough pace for Sakura with only a few awkward silences in between. Halfway through their 'meal' a man with midnight blue hair and azure eyes hidden behind half-moon spectacles, strolled up to the table and sat down at an empty seat. Sakura instantly recognised him as the man whom she had bumped into the day before.

"Eriol..." Syaoran said with a touch of dislike in his voice. The man, now introduced as Eriol, replied, "Syaoran, finally here I see, and with a lovely young lady as well." He then turned to Sakura and held out his hand, "I believe we have met before. I am Eriol." Sakura shook his outstretched hand, "Pleasure meeting you."

Eriol then smiled mischievously, "It usually is." Sakura giggled and returned to her dessert. Syaoran gave Eriol one of his death glares while Eriol merely returned it with a smile.

* * *

Yay!I'm done, and Eriol is finally introduced properly! Now, don't go away, there's still the second half of the date plus loads more mischief to plunge these characters into. Sorry again for the extremely long wait but don't expect another chapeter too soon either. I'm really busy with school and stuff. Geez I don't get a break anymore. Anyway! Hope you liked it! Til next instalment 

-INVU4URAQT


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Many thanks to all those reviewed! I really appreciate your feedback and opinions! Geez, I realised that for all my chapters so far I haven't put disclaimers X-( I'm so forgetful.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not and will never own Card Captor Sakura, I am merely using the characters to portray my own sick and twisted universe! These characters don't belong to me except for the ones you don't recognise. If anything in my story seems similar to something someone else has written, I didn't steal, I thought of this story from the top of my head one day while I was doing a wordsearch XD

Good now that that's done, let's continue the story!

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It was now nine thirty, Sakura had officially spent two hours with Syaoran and almost an hour with Eriol and despite the obvious dislike experienced between Eriol and Syaoran, Sakura was enjoying herself immensely. She had a smile plastered on her face for the past fifteen minutes as they sat with their empty plates and joked about everyday things and of course while Eriol and Syaoran made wise-cracks about each other. 

"Oh yeah? Well, you wouldn't believe this but Syaoran still wets the bed!" Eriol practically shouted before laughing uncontrollably. Sakura joined in as she watched Syaoran's face turn to a scarlet red colour. "I do not!" Syaoran shouted back at Eriol and opened his mouth for a retort, as was the custom for the past fifteen minutes, however, the chirpy waitress that had been serving them all evening came up to the table and handed Syaoran the bill. He looked at it, furrowed his eyebrows and whispered something to the waitress. She stood up and bowed her head a little and retreated back to the kitchen with the bill.

A beeping sound was then heard coming from Syaoran's pocket. The laughter died down as Syaoran pulled a pager out of his pocket and said, "Dammit, I have something urgent to attend to. Sakura, you don't mind Eriol taking you home, right?" She shook her head and he sighed and stood up. He walked over to Sakura's side of the table to pull out the chair for her to stand. She got up and Eriol did the same. He said his goodbyes and walked off.

Eriol looked to Sakura and held out his hand for her to take. She took it and they walked onto the balcony overlooking the lake. Sakura gasped as she saw the shining body of water and stared enchantedly at the reflection of the moon. Eriol stared silently at her and then cleared his throat, "It's about time for me to take you home, don't you think?" She turned to face him at this question and as much as she didn't want to go home, she knew she still had to get up early in the morning to open her new library of puzzle books. She looked at him with a childlike glance and then nodded.

Eriol then led her out of the restaurant to his motorcycle. He fixed his helmet and handed one to her saying, "Now isn't this romantic? Two people riding together on a motorcycle." He said in a somewhat airy voice. She looked skeptically at the helmet he was holding out to her and replied, "Romantic...?" He chuckled at her response and then said, "Well what would you prefer? A limosine? Or perhaps a nice stroll under the moonlight? Or maybe even a horse-drawn carriage?" He pulled back his arm and took off his own helmet. "I personally think a horse-drawn carriage would be nice, don't you agree?" He enquired again. She laughed at his quirky responses and then replied, "I think a walk will do just fine." He smiled and hung the helmets back onto the bike, "Then lets walk." he said and held out his arm. She hooked her arm around his and they walked off.

As they walked, they conversed about current events, their childhood and about their favourite recipes. Their talk spanned a wide variety of topics. Sakura realised that Eriol was more open than Syaoran but there was still a lot of mystery about him despite his open-ness. Syaoran kept his emotions inside while Eriol willingly showed every change in his mood. She found herself being drawn to Eriol, not as a potential partner, just drawn in by the mystery and his odd habits.

Sakura then realised how far the restaurant actually was from her house and she started feeling fatigued. She slowed her pace and Eriol followed suit, but he noted her discomfort. "Getting a little tired?" He asked. She looked over to him and smiled sheepishly, "Yeah just a little." He grinned back, "Well how about that horse-drawn carriage I offered before?" She looked around, they were walking down a rather deserted street and it was almost ten thirty. "Where are we going to find a horse-drawn carriage now?" His face turned deep in thought and he said, "I have no idea." She laughed a little and sighed, "No, it's not really THAT far, I can walk." She picked up the pace to show that she was determined, leaving Eriol behind, but as she turned the corner she stopped in her tracks and gaped. Eriol, ran up beside her, "What's wrong?" concern obvious in his voice. She pointed infront of her and he followed her hand. "Oh look! A carriage, how convenient. Weren't we just talking about this?" He said and jogged toward the carriage owner asking him to take him and Sakura for a ride. The carriage owner nodded and Eriol ran back to Sakura taking her by the hand and leading her to the carriage.

"Now wasn't that nice of the man to take us to your house?" Eriol smiled at her as they settled themselves on the seats. Sakura was still a little shocked but had regained herself sufficiently to nod and carry on a decent conversation with Eriol all the way to her house.

As the noise of the horse's feet hitting the pavement slowed to a halt, Sakura gathered her things and stepped down with Eriol close behind. He walked her to her door and was about to turn back to the carriage when Sakura said to him, "Thanks for taking me home. I had a great time!" Eriol smiled at her and replied, "I'm glad, I had a great time as well, Sakura." She returned his smile, opened her door and stepped in intending to turn around to wave goodbye but saw that there was no one there. Not even the carriage was still on the curb. She looked around, her heart beat quickening a little. She hadn't heard the carriage move or Eriol's footsteps walking back to the carriage and yet there was nothing to be seen. She hurriedly closed the door, locked it and sank to the floor. 'That was odd,' she thought and the tried to calm her panicked heart.

After five minutes, she slowly got to her feet and walked to her room. As she sat on her bed, she reflected on the day's events and found them all to be rather peculiar. The two gentlemen she had met seemed nice enough but there was something strange about them both, and she couldn't quite think of what was so different about them other than odd things kept happening when she was around them.

She sighed in frustration and got off her bed to change into her pajamas. She then sat on her couch and pulled out a puzzle book, ready to calm herself down when the phone rang. She glanced at it over her book and decided to ignore it. Eventually it stopped ringing and she went back to her puzzle, but then it rang again. She glared at it as if wishing it would cut off but when it didn't she groaned and picked it up. "Hello?" She asked quite puzzled as to why her home phone was ringing again. "Oh, hey Sakura, I was wondering whether Eriol had gotten you home as yet," said the voice on the other end. Recognising it as Syaoran, she breathed a sigh of relief and answered, "Yeah, sorry I just couldn't get to the phone on time..." she lied. "It's fine, well I'll see you around then." And with that, he hung up. Sakura replaced the receiver and sat back in the couch. 'How the heck did he get my number?' she thought as she furrowed her eyebrows. She shook her head; she really didn't want to think about that right now. She just wanted to relax and not have anything strange happen. She sighed and decided she would just go to sleep, and that's what she did.

---------------------------------------------------

The next few days ran smoothly enough for Sakura, she had no extremely odd visitors or mysterious occurences. It was now Friday and she had only been out with Syaoran and Eriol once more after their dinner, and that was the night before when they had gone to the mall and decided to watch a movie as well. She really enjoyed their company and nothing too strange had happened that she took notice of. The only down side was at 8:30, both Eriol and Syaoran had gotten called away after the movie and their night was cut short. But other than that, she was glad that it was a relatively normal night out with her two new friends.

She was due to return to work the next day and as much as she enjoyed her vacation, she couldn't wait to start back working. So what if she was a work-a-holic? She didn't mind. The only bad part was that she wouldn't be seeing Syaoran and Eriol much after going back to work and she had told them last night, so they decided they would meet one last time that afternoon. Eriol suggested they go for ice cream making a comment about Syaoran's obsession with chocolate to which Syaoran replied with a glare to the aforementioned commenter.

So here she was getting ready for the afternoon with her friends. She had closed her puzzle library earlier and recieved disheartening glances after revealing that it wouldn't open back for a long time. She was sad to disappoint so many puzzle-loving people but she couldn't work and run her library at the same time. She apologised to her 'regulars' and soon watched them walk off.

Sakura fastened her earrings in place, grabbed her purse and headed out the door. They were all supposed to meet at the park a few blocks away from the ice cream parlour. As she walked along she noticed the overcast sky and cursed herself for not noticing sooner when she had the chance to turn back and get an umbrella. She shook the thought from her head and hoped that either Syaoran or Eriol would have one. She soon saw the park and hurried toward it seeing a familiar figure standing near the pond in the middle of the park.

As she reached the pond, the figure turned and smiled. "Hey Sakura," Syaoran said. Sakura looked up at him noticing the jacket he wore to protect him from the rain and smiled back, "Hey Syaoran, where's Eriol?" she replied. He informed her that Eriol would be arriving soon and then suggested they sat down while they waited. Sakura nodded in agreement and walked over to a nearby bench. Syaoran followed and after they were both seated, he asked her, "So, what is it that you do exactly?" He looked at her inquisitively and she informed him that she was a cryptologist. He seemed interested in her line of work so he continued to ask questions which she continued answering without giving away too much information. She was always taught that she shouldn't reveal too much about the JTPS just to be safe.

Soon enough, Eriol arrived and they headed toward the ice cream parlour. The sky had cleared considerably and Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, although she noticed that Eriol had brought an umbrella with him. They walked in the ice cream shop to meet it relatively empty with only a few tables occupied. Syaoran decided he'd pick a table for them while Sakura and Eriol chose the ice cream. When they walked to the counter, a girl with long raven coloured hair had their back to them and after Eriol cleared his throat, the girl turned around and smiled at them. Sakura's eyes widened a little. It was the same girl who had been their waitress at the restaurant, and the usher at the movie theatre. "Hi! I'm Tomoyo, how may I help you today?" the girl with glittering amethyst eyes asked. 'This Tomoyo girl sure has a lot of jobs,' Sakura thought, her eyes narrowing slightly.

Eriol ordered a plain vanilla cone for himself and a 'Chunky Double Chocolate' cone for Syaoran while Sakura decided on a 'Cherry Berry' cone. Tomoyo punched in the orders to the cash registers, then scooped out the orders and handed it to them. They thanked her and looked around to where Syaoran was seated. The table was near a window and overlooked the road which they had walked to get there. Eriol and Sakura walked over to the table, sat down and Eriol handed Syaoran his ice cream. Then that's when it started, the most awkward conversation that Sakura had ever had.

Syaoran started with, "So Sakura, about what we were discussing earlier, I was wondering where you worked because I've always been interested in cryptology and wanted to find out more about it." Sakura blinked. Of course she couldn't tell him, but what would she say to him now? However, she was saved by Eriol, in a way, when he said, "Come on Syaoran, haven't you heard? Cryptology is a rare field to get into, Sakura isn't just going to tell you where she works because it must be in some super secret organisation, right?" Both their attentions were now focussed on her. She stared at them, her ice cream long forgotten in her hand, as her mind rushed to think of an appropriate answer. But she wasn't given the opprtunity to answer because Syaoran replied, "Well if she did work for a secretive society, then she couldn't tell us, because we might be the enemy." He said this still looking at her, putting emphasis on the word society. Her eyes were wide and locked on his, then Eriol spoke, "Precisely, and she wouldn't want to jeopardise her job to possible murderers or thieves or terrorists." That's when she lost it, her ice cream fell out of her hand accidentally and her trance was broken. 'How could they know?' She thought as she hurriedly cleaned up the fallen ice cream. But Eriol spoke again, "But, of course this is all assuming you were a secret agent of some sort."

"And also assuming that we posed a huge threat to you if you were." Syaoran added in. Sakura sighed deciding that she'd keep herself out of trouble by just not responding.

Sakura then suggested they go home, for fear of another 'conversation', and it was agreed that they would walk Sakura home and that would be it. As they arrived in Sakura's walkway, she spotted a package on her doorstep. She went over to it, ripped open the wrapping paper and gasped at what was there. It was 'Clow's Logic Puzzles, the Fifth Edition'. Saying she was shocked would be an understatement. She turned to Syaoran and Eriol who were looking in her direction with curious eyes. "I thought your friend who owned the store didn't want to sell this book?" She directed the question to Syaoran, who replied, "It seems he's had a change of heart." Syaoran then glanced at Eriol and Sakura followed suit. She saw a slight twinkle in his eye, and a small upturning of his lips as he winked at her.

* * *

That's the end of the 6th chapter! I'm really sorry for the long wait geez, I've just been busy with schoolwork (as usual). At least it's longer than usual! I'll try as hard as possible to update sooner but don't hold your breaths. Hope you liked it! Stay tuned for the 7th installment of 'Puzzled'! Oh and don't forget to 'Spot the Magic'! 

- INVU4URAQT


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Thanks for your reviews and for continuing to read this story! Any feedback (bad or good) helps me improve my writing! So in fact you're doing community service! No one can say you didn't help someone in need.

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Card Captor Sakura, I merely wish I did. In the mean time, however, I only use the characters in this lovely story of mine!

NOTE: I've decided not to add the honorifics to the names. I did in chapter one for Sakura's boss but not for anyone else. So for that reason, I will be referring to him as 'Mr.' instead.

Now, on with the story!!

* * *

Saturday. The day when most people are eager to stay at home after a long stressful week. However, to Sakura, she was anxiously awaiting today for the completely opposite reason; this was the day she was to return to work. She practically skipped to work, ignoring the odd looks she received from passers-by. She was even more excited at having received the last missing book of her collection yesterday. At this thought her smile widened. She was forever in debt to Eriol for giving her the book with no charge to her. 

As she entered her office and put her belongings down on her desk, she instantly switched into 'work mode' and remembered that Mr. Namikawa wanted to see her. She exited the room and walked down the corridor to her boss' office and knocked. "Come in." she heard her boss say from the other side of the door. She walked into the room and he looked up, "Ah Kinomoto, I see you've returned from your vacation. I trust it was relaxing."

"Yes sir." She replied while nodding.

"Very well then let's get down to business, shall we? I've had some robbery cases for you since last week and between then and now, more strange things have happened which lead me to believe that all of these recent robberies are linked. I put a team of cryptologists to work on it for the past week but none of them are as skilled as you." He stopped and rummaged through his desk draw, "I would like you to take a look at these videos and photos of the crime scenes and tell me what you come up with." He handed her a stack of seven videos and a folder filled with photos and newspaper articles. She took them and nodded to him, then proceeded to walk back to her office.

She sat on her chair and placed the folder on top of the other files she had scattered on her desk and then took the videos and put them on top of her video player. She looked over to her puzzle book and sighed, 'I guess I'll have to finish you another day then.' she thought as she placed it with her other incomplete logic books. Her attention was then drawn back to the task at hand and she popped a video into the player ready to scrutinize it.

Four hours and seven videos later, Sakura sat back in her chair her eyes wide with disbelief. She had replayed each video several times over and she still couldn't figure out how the bandits had managed to enter each building. One second they would be loitering outside and the next second they would appear inside the store. It made no sense, especially since the store was locked up tightly. Then, when they were inside the store, they would remain in one spot for three seconds exactly, then vanish and so would the object they had intended to steal. However, one thing she noticed was that the only thing stolen from each store was a small amount of money and a piece of jewellery, not even an expensive one at that. These thieves obviously had skills, so why didn't they take something more expensive than a simple pair of earrings or a bracelet?

Sakura sat there for a minute or two contemplating the true motive of these bandits and then decided to take a look at the photos and articles. She glanced through the articles noticing they were reporting the same thing just at different stores and different times:

"...the locks on the doors were still intact and so were the locks on the display cases of the jewels in question. Police have refused to comment but sources tell us that no fingerprints were found and it seems as though the only evidence of a robbery is that items have gone missing..."

The pictures were all the same as well; police scouring the buildings, curious onlookers, worried store owner. There were no clues at all as to who commited the crime. Sakura decided to take a closer look at the videos and see if she could make out the facial features of the culprit. She examined the moment they appeared in the store and zoomed in to see the face, however most of the face was covered with a dark cloth, only the eyes were uncovered. She looked closer as the video played and noticed that the thief looked at the camera and winked. 'How cocky,' she thought, and was instantly reminded of Syaoran. She cleared the thought from her mind and paused the video when the bandit winked. She observed his eyes carefully and found them to be a shade of dark gold.

As she observed the other videos she found that there were only two thieves between the seven videos and their method of 'breaking and entering' was the same, linking them together. One bandit had deep blue eyes while the other had dark gold. Now she was getting somewhere. She decided to then take another look at the photos and see if anything else matched up. She studied the police, the shop owners and the crowd, all were different in each picture. Different stores, different districts. There was no connection. Sakura sighed exasperatedly and decided to take a break.

She stood from her chair and walked to the coffee room where she bumped into Yumi; another girl from the cryptology department.

"Hey Sakura! How's that case coming along for you?" The brunette asked.

"Um, not so good. I can't seem to make any connection between any of the pictures, and the manner in which they entered the buildings is just so confusing. But, I did manage to figure out that there are only two culprits rather than a gang related thing." Sakura replied while stirring her coffee.

"Oh really? We didn't see that, but we noticed that there are two men that keep appearing in all of the crowds. Well not in the crowd exactly, more like off to the side. It was tough, we spent days trying to figure it out but the rest of the cryptology department practically gave up on it. Oh well, I better be off, good luck!" Yumi said as she took up her coffee cup and walked out.

Sakura froze, 'Two guys in all the pictures? Two guys stealing?' She ran back to her office, leaving her unfinished coffee, and spread all the pictures out on her desk next to each other, and peered closely at each one. Sure enough, there were two men loitering just at the edge of the crowd in each picture. She carefully examined the men, the first few pictures had a clear view of their eyes, and she noticed that one man had golden amber coloured eyes while the other man had deep azure coloured eyes, practically the same colours as the thieves in the videos. Sakura's eyes widened, 'These guys did it! Or at least they're the most likely suspects. But there are probably several people with amber and azure eyes. But the fact that they keep showing up in these pictures...' Sakura's thoughts trailed off. 'I need a better look at their faces.'

She looked through the photos and found that almost all of them had obstructions blocking the men's facial features from view; one time it was a newspaper, or they faced away from they camera, finally, however, she found a single picture amongst the thirty something photos, which gave a clear view of their face. In this picture though, they were much closer to the crowd than in the other photos, and they were focussed on what was happening. She looked carefully at the picture and gasped at the persons that she saw. 'Eriol and Syaoran?' she thought.

She glanced through the articles and noted the time the robberies took place; Monday night: six thirty, Tuesday night: nine o'clock, Wednesday night: seven o'clock, Thursday night: eight o'clock, Friday afternoon: five o'clock. 'Whew, well it couldn't be them I mean, we were having dinner at nine on Tuesday, we were at the movies on Thurday and having ice cream on Friday. She shuddered at the thought of the ice cream remembering the awkward conversation that she had had with the two of them. She shook her head and focussed her thoughts back to what she was doing. 'Okay, so Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are out but who's to say they couldn't have been the thieves on Monday and Wednesday?' she thought. 'But that's impossible, there are only two thieves and they can't be in two places at once... I'm just a little paranoid I guess. Like I said, there are probably lots of people who look similar to them.' She nodded her head as an absolute.

* * *

Sakura spent the rest of the day frantically searching through police records of the citizens of Tomoeda in hopes of finding matches to the description of the suspects in the pictures. Like she had predicted, there were several people with those characteristics and her job definitely was not made easier after seeing the number of results that she had received in her searches. Sakura groaned in frustration and sat back dejectedly. This was the hardest case she'd ever had to crack. There were just no leads! 

She placed her elbows on the desk in front of her and gripped her head; slightly massaging it with her fingertips. If only she hadn't taken her vacation, she had practically wasted a week's worth of researching and stressing and...okay scratch that. Sakura was glad she had taken her vacation, not only because she had relaxed for once in her life but also because she had actually opened herself up a little to the two people she had met. She shook her head. She wasn't going to continue down that path of thought.

She glanced around her office and noticed the small digital clock buried under some of her books and papers. She picked it up and sighed as she read the time; 11:43. The entire building was empty, of course, except for her, and outside was still and dark - not that many people would be up at that hour of the night. Sakura had pulled 'all-nighters' before but mainly because she had gotten carried away with one of her word search puzzle books. Tonight was different. She felt, for the first time in a long time, completely and utterly useless. Her grip around the clock tightened and she willed herself to calm down. Sakura was never an aggressive person and she intended to keep her reputation.

She stood up abruptly and placed the clock back down on her desk. She had quit for the night. Maybe when her brain was fresh tomorrow morning she could continue cracking this seemingly unsolvable case. She picked up her jacket and handbag and walked out of her office, turning the light off as she passed through the threshold. She turned on her heel and walked along the familiar corridor, her feet guiding her to the exit. She entered her car and drove off to her house.

As she turned the corner to enter the street on which her house was situated, the first thing she noticed was a foreign car parked in front of her house. She slowed down as she drove closer to the car and watched closely at it. She definitely didn't know the owner. Her vision then landed on a figure leaning against her front door. From her distance, it looked like a man and he had his arms crossed around his mid-section. Leaning forward in her seat, her mouth dropped as she recognised the man as Syaoran. 'What is he doing in front of my house?' she thought as she quickly parked her car and walked to her door. Her heels clicked as she walked briskly along the concrete driveway toward him.

* * *

The sound awakened him from his light slumber and he opened his eyes to glance at the source. He stood up straight when he recognised Sakura coming toward him, unfolded his arms and dropped them to his sides. He looked into her eyes waiting for her to speak before allowing any explanation to pass his lips. 

"What are you doing here? And at this hour of the night too." She asked just above a whisper, as though anything louder would disturb the otherwise peaceful environment.

He shrugged and replied, "I got kicked out...from my _own_ house by my stupid cousin and well I needed a place to stay for a few days."

"Here? What about Eriol's place? I'm sure it's huge." Sakura said as she reached in her bag for her keys. He looked at her increduously. Had she just said what he thought she said? She seemed to notice his gaze and cleared her throat. "Nevermind, stupid question. I guess it's fine if you stay here. But don't expect to get anything for free. You'll have to do chores and go grocery shopping, and make your own food especially since I hardly have time to do anything with my work and all..." She rambled on as she inserted the key into the lock. She pulled open the first door and went through her multitude of doors before finally stepping inside the carpeted house. "Oh yeah, and don't expect me to clean up after you either." She finished and motioned for him to follow her to his room. He stepped after her, not having paid attention to a word she said, his mind only focussed on one thought, 'Phase one complete.'

* * *

There! Chapter 7 finished way before I planned, but I just got a surge of inspiration. Anywhose, I hope you like it. Leave a review! You know you want to...or at least you should know that I want you to. It'll make me happy! And I need to be happy, especially since I have exams starting this week. Ah well. I'll try to get out chapter eight before Christmas but knowing how I am I'll get writer's block or something. If not, then consider this an early Christmas present from me to you!Signing off til' next time. 

- INVU4URAQT


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Thanks so much for all the reviews I received and thanks also to everyone who continue to read this story! I swear I should call this story "Days of the Week" instead since I keep starting with the day. But it works..sort of. I just do it to show the passing of time, I guess (or because I don't know how else to start XD)

**DISCLAIMER**: I do not own Card Captor Sakura, CLAMP does. I just happen to be a crazed fan of this series and decided to write a story using their characters.

Onwards with the story!!

* * *

Monday; the day when people of all ages return to their respective work places after a rejuvenating weekend. Of course, Sakura was an exception for two reasons. Firstly, She had already returned to work on Saturday, and secondly her weekend was far from relaxing. After her unexpected visitor Saturday night had turned into an unwanted guest, Sakura couldn't even blink without Syaoran interrupting her. On Sunday, she had been fervently searching through the citizen database for the suspects when Syaoran called asking about groceries and furniture and other random topics. She had finally lost it when he asked what colour paint she thought would look good in the living room. However, the worst part was that her boss had noticed her frustration with the case. 

So, here she was, at work again, trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, without much luck. She let out another exasperated groan as her head fell into her palms propped up on the desk by her elbows. Why couldn't she see the missing piece? She had no leads or clues, not even a straw to grasp at. She looked again toward the open folder on her desk with even more pictures scattered on her desk. There had been another robbery the night before. It had been exactly like the others. Perfect in every way, not leaving any evidence of a robbery except for the missing item. Sakura closed her eyes for the umpteenth time trying to analyse the situation when suddenly she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in." She said and turned toward the now opening door.

Mr. Namikawa stood in the doorframe, one leather-clad foot in the room, cleared his throat and said, "Kinomoto, I need to see you in my office for a moment if you don't mind."

Sakura nodded dumbly and stood up to follow him. This is strange, she thought. Namikawa hardly ever stepped out of his office, and never did he do so in order to ask someone to see him in said office. Sakura straightened her shoulders as she stepped in the office and sat at one of the chairs he motioned to. He looked up at her from his own seat after a few moments and spoke in an almost gentle voice. "I see you've been having problems with this case Sakura." he said.

Sakura's eyes widened at his reference to her by her first name and hesitantly responded, "Uh..n-no Sir, not at all. It's just taking me a little while to um...get back into my routine."

He stared at her for a while and then replied, "Well, that may be the case but this assignment is very important and it can't wait much longer."

"Of course sir, I understand that and whatever worries you may have about me solving this case should be cast away-"

"Exactly my thoughts. That's why I've decided to assign a partner to work with you, you know, to cast away my worries." He revealed.

Sakura's mouth dropped. Shock was a far cry from describing the emotion she was experiencing at the moment. She never worked with a partner. Well, she hadn't for a very long time that is. Ever since her last partner quit, her boss had been resigned to let her work alone, but now he was sure this case was frustrating her and that she needed help if it was ever going to be solved quickly.

"Don't worry, Kinomoto," he continued, "This one's nice, or at least from her file she seems nice. I can't remember ever seeing her before now but she's been here for more than two years and she's more than qualified to work alongside you. She'll be here in a moment so you'll get a chance to meet her."

Sakura's expression had changed from shock to impassive blankness. She waited silently with her boss for this lady to come. The silence was soon broken by a soft knock at the door. The plank of wood opened slowly to reveal a young lady of about Sakura's age with long raven coloured hair and violet eyes who Sakura instantly recognised as the girl from the restaurant, movie theatre and ice cream parlour.

She looked to the two in the room and smiled brightly with a twinkle in her eye before she burst out, "Oh how kawaii!! Kinomoto Sakura, right? I'm Daidouji Tomoyo and I'm going to be your new partner!! Can I call you Sakura-chan? You're just so adorable! This is going to be such fun! We can have sleepovers and go out together while solving the case of course!! We'll be best friends and..." The girl rushed over to Sakura and started pinching her cheeks and pulling at her hair.

Sakura's eyes widened at the girl's antics and looked cautiously over to her boss whose expression might have been hilarious if she wasn't in the situation she was currently. She slowly backed out of Tomoyo's grasp, when said person turned her attention to the colour of the curtains and how good Sakura would look in this colour, and moved toward Namikawa. "Uh...are you sure she's qualified for this job?"

His eyes followed Tomoyo's rapid movements and slowly replied. "Now, I'm not too sure..."

* * *

"So, what's first? Can we get something to eat? I'm just starving, how about you?" Tomoyo asked as she and Sakura walked back from Namikawa's office. 

"Well, sir said that the case is top priority so I suggest that we get back to trying to solve it." Sakura replied and made a note to herself that she would have to get accustomed to Tomoyo's hyper behaviour.

"Aw! But if we starve, who will solve the case then? And even if we don't die, we'll be really hungry and wouldn't concentrate on what we're supposed to do. Plus you're so skinny, you can use a little food in you." Tomoyo said matter-of-factly.

Sakura sighed in defeat and gave in to her new partner's whims. "Fine, let's get something to eat. What do you want?"

"Hm... How about I make you something? Where do you live?" Tomoyo responded.

"Just a couple of blocks away in Sunstar Gardens, why?"

"Oh great! I'll make lunch there! My house is so far away from here that it'll just take too long and you might get even skinnier!" Tomoyo grabbed Sakura's handed and ran out of the building toward the general area of Sakura's house, dragging the aforementioned house-owner behind her.

'This girl is strange' Sakura thought as she was being yanked down the street, 'She doesn't seem to be the type of person cut out for this kind of business. But then again, before, I guess I never really was either.' Her thoughts were cut short when she slammed into a body. "Ack! Tomoyo, why didn't you tell me you stopped?"

"Well, you looked so contemplative, I didn't want to distract you! Is this your house?" She asked as she looked up at the pink structure.

"Yeah it is, wait, how did you know?" Sakura asked suspiciously.

There was a strange glint in Tomoyo's eyes that Sakura had almost missed before she replied, "It just screams Sakura-chan to me! It's the whole essence of the house that just said 'Sakura-chan lives here' "

Sakura's eyes narrowed a bit but Tomoyo's smiling expression never wavered. Sakura decided to forget about the glint that she saw, if there ever was one, and just lead Tomoyo inside.

* * *

As Sakura ushered Tomoyo in and placed her jacket on the table near the door, the first thing that hit her was a wave of odour that smelled as though something was burning. She looked up and saw Tomoyo looking around before her eyes landed on Sakura, "Sakura-shan, are you cooking something already? You're so thoughtful! But it smells more like it's burning." she said innocently. 

"Oh no..." Sakura murmured as she ran toward the kitchen. "Syaoran!" she yelled, "Are you cook- trying to cook something?" she corected herself as she burst through the kitchen door to find no one there, but a pot on the stove emitting black smoke. She turned off the stove and doused the pot before returning to the living room to see Tomoyo standing idly still holding her jacket. "Syaoran!" she repeated, "Where are you?"

Tomoyo tilted her head to the side, "Syaoran? Who's that?" As she uttered the last syllable, Syaoran walked through the door with messy, wet hair and his clothing askew. "Oh, Syaoran. You're living with someone Sakura-chan? A man no less." Tomoyo chuckled.

"No it's nothing like that Tomoyo!" Sakura yelled and blushed profusely.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan, I won't tell anybody." Tomoyo whispered back a slight grin still present on her face.

"You called? I was in the shower," an impatient Syaoran said as he tapped his foot on the carpeted floor.

"Oh, yes, were you cooking? Because you nearly burnt down the house." Sakura said sternly, folding her arms across her chest.

"Sorry about that. I don't cook often, so I completely forgot it was on the stove." Syaoran, Sakura noticed, actually looked embarrassed. She grinned, she had finally found his weakness. If she had a video camera, she would have recorded this moment to blackmail him with. But alas, she didn't have one and so was unable to capture it on film but that didn't stop her from embedding it on her memory.

After a short lecture on the importance of not burning down the house, the three persons walked into the kitchen to see what they could salvage from the almost-but-not burnt kitchen. "Oh dear, you're supposed to put the water before the rice, Li." Tomoyo said shaking her head and dumping the pot into the sink.

"I did, but it evaporated before I could put more," he replied stubbornly.

"Well, you two just sit back while I cook up something for us to eat!" Tomoyo clapped her hands excitedly, directed Sakura and Syaoran to two chairs beside the kitchen counter and got started on the food. Tomoyo worked with the precision and expertise of a chef, Sakura noted, and she couldn't help but to remember that this was the girl who had been their waitress at 'Reed's'.

"Hey, Tomoyo, do you have any other jobs?" Sakura asked.

"Nope, I'm just a plain old cryptologist...well I guess that's not so plain," she replied and laughed at her own little joke.

"Oh, I see. Well, do you have a twin then?" Sakura pressed the matter.

"No Sakura-chan," Tomoyo chuckled, "Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Sakura responded. She leaned over to Syaoran and whispered so only he could here, "Doesn't she seem familiar to you? She was the girl from Reed's and the movie theatre and the ice cream shop, wasn't she?"

Syaoran studied Sakura for a while before turning his scrutinizing eyes on Tomoyo. "No I can't say that she looks familiar to me. Maybe she just looks similar. Plus, didn't she say she doesn't have any other jobs? And, she HAS been working in cryptology for more than two years, right? So she couldn't have had any other jobs." He said matter-of-factly.

Sakura nodded reluctantly, she was sure that Tomoyo was the same girl, but Syaoran's thinking was logical, and didn't Namikawa say that Tomoyo had been in the JTPS for more than two years? Wait a second...Namikawa did say that. So how did Syaoran know? She stared at the side of his face, "But I didn't tell you..." she whispered.

Syaoran's head turned when he heard her whisper and he smirked in her direction, returning her stare with equal force. Sakura's mouth opened slightly, 'Those eyes...' she thought, 'They're the same, the same as the other ones...from the videos...' Her eyes widened and she excused herself from the room and ran to the bathroom. "He needs to get out of my house, soon" she whispered to herself, as she tried to convince herself that she was mistaken.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Syaoran smirked to himself, 'Phase two complete.'

* * *

There's Chapter 8! I'm impressed that I got it out this fast (a month I think). My inspiration came back. I honestly, hadn't predicted that the story would turn out like this but it still fits with my original draft. For example, Syaoran living with Sakura momentarily, that was a spur of the moment thing. Such is the life of a writer. 

Anyways, I think there's only 3 or 4 more chapters for this story, but I'll most likely write a sequel since I plan to end it on a cliff hanger-ish type thing. So, there's going to be a sequel or, I might just continue the story. I guess it doesn't make much sense to just cut off the story and then start another one set only a couple months after this one. Oh well, tell me which one you guys prefer and I'll do that.

Hope you guys liked this chapter and I'll really try to bring out another chapter soon. I apologise for the spelling/grammatical errors and um, yeah, review! You know you want to...

- INVU4URAQT


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N**: Once again thank you to all those who reviewed and read this story. You guys inspire me to keep writing.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Card Captor Sakura and I most likely never will so this is as close as I'm ever gonna get to thinking that I can do what I want with the franchise.

Well, on with the story!

* * *

Syaoran walked the long pathway toward the ornate doors of the grand mansion before him. He couldn't help but grin a little as he remembered what brought him back here. Sakura had fervently attempted to persuade him to go make peace with his cousin for whatever it was he had done. So, here he was on his porch opening the door with the key in his pocket. He walked through the threshold, briefly wiping his feet on the mat behind the doorway, before making his way across the room to the kitchen. His shoes clicked against the salt and pepper tiles as he prepared himself a sandwich before moving to the dining room to eat it. His mother had always told him that he shouldn't eat in the kitchen and although he thought that rule was stupid, he was programmed to obey her even though she wasn't there. 

"Welcome back Master Li, shall I inform the mistress of your return?" A silver haired man asked as Syaoran sat at the table with his sandwich.

"Thanks Wei." The younger man confirmed before biting into his ham and cheese. Wei bowed and exited the room returning only a few minutes after with a young woman with ruby red eyes and jet black hair partly held up in two buns. The woman sat to the right of Syaoran and watched as he ate the food.

As he was about to take another bite, she narrowed her eyes and said, "You need to stop."

Syaoran stopped in mid bite and responded, "I can't help it if I'm hungry Meiling."

"You know what I mean Syaoran," she said sternly, "Stop giving her clues, that's Eriol's job."

Syaoran placed the remaining piece of his sandwich on the plate infront of him and turned to face Meiling, "But it's so fun, plus at this rate she won't ever figure it out, and might I add that Eriol isn't doing his job either, he's involving another person to finish what he started." he said, staring meaningfully at Meiling.

The girl's eyes widened with realisation and she mumbled, "He didn't...no, this isn't supposed to happen yet. She's not supposed to... not until the next phase..."

Syaoran inhaled deeply before replying, "Eriol obviously wants to move things along. We have no choice right now but to adjust our actions to fit his. He has control for the moment and I know he won't stray from the original plan but we'll need to get back control as quickly as possible. Who knows what he'll do if he gets to her first."

* * *

"Hey Sakura-chan, where's your bathroom?" Tomoyo asked as they sat on the couch going through the articles and pictures from the robbery. 

"Oh, it's just through that door." Sakura replied pointing to the teak door. Tomoyo made her way across the room and entered the smaller room, closing the door behind her. Sakura heard the telltale click that said the door was locked and slowly relaxed her tense shoulders. She hadn't even imagined what it would have been like to have a partner again, or if she did she never thought that she'd feel nervous. She had to constantly remind herself that this was Tomoyo not Shimura. Her jaw tightened at the thought of him, but untightened just as quickly. She will get her revenge some day, she was stronger now than back then.

Sakura shook her head to clear her mind and decided to stretch her legs a little by walking around the room, she and Tomoyo had been critiquing all the photos since lunch, it was now four o'clock. Namikawa had suggested, when she called, that she stayed out of the office and get to know her new partner but Sakura was finding that easier said than done. Sure, Tomoyo was a nice person and seemed really genuine but she couldn't shake the thought of her past near-death experience with her last partner.

As she walked, the phone rang and she sighed exasperatedly thinking it was Syaoran, he was the only person who had called her on her landline, except for the wrong number a week or so before. She picked up the receiver, held it to her ear and muttered a greeting. "Hello, Ms. Kinomoto, my name is Meiling Raye, I'm Syaoran's cousin, I'm sure he's told you about me." The voice on the other end said.

"Oh, hello Ms. Raye, how can I help you?" Sakura replied.

"I understand that my cousin was staying at your home for the short while that he was away and I called to inform you that it is impossible for him to return to his house at the moment. You see, his mother is suffering from a rare disease and is bed-ridden at her home in Hong Kong and Syaoran was sent to Japan to acquire the herb for her cure since it doesn't grow in China. However, when he came here he forgot completely about his poor mother, so my husband and I came to remind him of his mission, but his response was less than pleasing to me, so I kicked him out of the house because of his attitude to the whole situation until he found that life-saving plant." The girl explained, taking great lengths to fully describe her feelings at each point in the story. Sakura was shocked to hear that Syaoran would ever neglect his mother, but was even more shocked that he never even mentioned her. She opened her mouth to respond but the other woman beat her to it, "I understand if you don't want him living with you either after hearing about his actions, but please realise that though I took rash actions, I still love him a lot and he currently has no where else to stay and you seem like a nice enough person so I wouldn't have it any other way."

There was a sense of finality in her voice, and Sakura knew that she couldn't argue. It made no sense to do so, and it made far less sense to tell Meiling, his cousin of all people, that she didn't want him to stay because his smirk annoyed her to no end. So she nodded, completely forgetting that she was on the phone and the speaker on the other end wouldn't see her. "Great!" Mealing replied as though seeing her nod, "I'll send him right back over! Thanks so much for understanding! You are such a nice person and I'm sure we'll speak again some day!" The phone clicked signalling the end of their conversation and Sakura sighed heavily as she replaced the receiver. She would just have to bear with his seeming to know everything until he found the herb. Or, better yet, she'd help him find it just so that things moved a little faster. Her face brightened a little at this thought and she returned to her seat to wait for Tomoyo.

* * *

The old mansion stood on top of a barren hill but was strangely invisible to those who may have passed by it. The rooms were filled with antique wooden furnitures standing on rich burgundy carpeted floors and against deep sapphire walls. In this particular room however, there stood a solitary chair with a lone figure seated on it and a large mahogany table in front. "Hm, a little while longer, eh?" The figure said softly to himself and propped his arms on the table. His spectacles shining against the glare from the large window to the side of him. "Ah, Li, catching on I see, but oh so predictable. Sadly my friend, I cannot permit this operation to move any slower than at my pace." With that he passed his hand through his navy hair and rose from the seat. He walked toward the window and looked out over the garden. He closed his eyes and after a quick wave of his hand, a small bush appeared at the edge of the fence near the road. The man grinned sardonically and walked away from the window and out of the room. 'Prepare yourself Li.'

* * *

"I'm going back to Hong Kong," the jet black haired woman said while packing the last of her belongings into the big mauve suitcase she had brought, "I need to ensure that everything up there is going according to plan. I've done my part in getting you to stay for a while longer but you would do best to hurry along whatever plan you may be plotting before Eriol does something drastic." She chided the chestnut haired man standing just outside the doorway. 

"Yes I know I need to hurry. I have a feeling that Eriol is already planning something, so I need to get back with Sakura." Syaoran responded and hugged the girl. "Have a safe flight, say hello to mother for me and make sure everything is ready, I'm sure I'll be returning soon." He added as he released her. She merely nodded in response and walked out of the house toward the black limo waiting there.

Syaoran watched the limo until it was out of sight and finally decided to return to Sakura's house to start phase one of his newly formed 'Plan B'.

* * *

The Aquarium in Tomoeda was aptly named since it was the only aquarium in the town. It occupied a large lot of land and contained over forty different species of fish ranging from pond guppies to huge Koi fish to Nurse and Zebra sharks. The site was very popular among tourists and children, as most aquariums were. A child in Tomoeda wasn't considered a child if he hadn't gone to the aquarium. This quaint little marine zoo was, in fact, the current location of Sakura Kinomoto and her new partner Tomoyo Daidouji. They stood among the one hundred or so other visitors who stared raptly at the dolphins that were performing before them. 

"I love the aquarium," Sakura whispered to her partner while entranced by the mammals in front of her.

Tomoyo glanced at Sakura and smiled gently, "Then aren't you glad I chose this place to go?"

Sakura grinned and nodded vigorously. She could still remember her days as a child coming here with her brother and father and staying for hours just staring at the fish. Her mother wasn't there, she passed away when Sakura was three, but Sakura always believed she was there in spirit.

A couple years ago though, her brother had taken off without telling her or her father where he was going. Her goal back then had been to find him, so she joined the JTPS at the age of eighteen but after two years her hope that he would come back dimmed and she gave up searching. Then Adachi Shimura walked into her life. She was merely an apprentice at the JTPS at the time but a case had come up that had the entire staff working on it. Sakura, because of her youth, was asked to go undercover to protect the fledgling witness, a famous actress, and this assignment placed Sakura in the professional care and know-how of then twenty five year old Adachi Shimura, the greatest cryptologist the JTPS had seen until then. He had solved several top priority cases in his career but this one, even with the help of the witness, seemed to elude even his great experience. Sakura, however, had some fresh perspective and soon enough, thanks to Sakura, the case was solved.

She gained great praise and respect from her colleagues and even, to her surprise, Adachi. She grew fond of him and soon began to think of him as more than a friend. However, on the night she was about to confess her feelings to him, she overheard an agreement. An accord that sickened her to her core. Her trusted partner had consented to exchanging information about the JTPS for power. Sakura couldn't believe it, not only that Adachi would betray the JTPS, but also that in return he received the ability to control the world. Who could possibly give him that? However, before she could find out, she was discovered from behind the wall where she had been hiding. A brief brawl ensued during which she was stabbed with Adachi's trademark dagger that he had always kept with him and he and his accomplice escaped. Her stab wound stuck her in the hospital for almost a month from which the scar of her operation still remained, but her determination to return Adachi to his normal self burned even more within her.

That was until she went home and found her father's lifeless body on the floor of the kitchen with a note saying, 'So sorry it has to be this way, you would have made a good partner'. She completely lost her nerve but she never told anyone that she knew who killed him far less about a note that was left behind. The post mortem revealed that he had been poisoned and from that day onward Sakura had vowed that she would find Adachi and execute her revenge. She wasn't quite sure, however, what her revenge would entail. Even at age twenty-two, two years after, she still sought after him in between assignments, always thinking of ways to make him hurt a hundred times more than she did.

* * *

Syaoran let out a frustrated groan. She wasn't home. He paced in front of the entrance muttering to himself all the possibilities of where she could be and none of them looked good in his mind. Not that he was worried about her or anything. He was merely worried about where she was and who she was with. He didn't even want to begin to imagine what would happen if Eriol had already gotten to her, far less what kind of trouble he'd be in for letting her slip through his grasp. He grunted and sat down. 'She probably just went to work.' He thought, but he still couldn't shake the foreboding feeling that he had. His instincts were usually right, so he decided to follow them and got up immediately and ran toward Eriol's mansion. 

When he reached the rusty iron gate, he burst through, tired from running but determined to ensure that Sakura was not anywhere near this closet maniac. He stood in front of the door and was about to bang on it when he heard a lock click and the large rosewood door swung open with a loud creak. His breathing was hard but he didn't care. His mind was focussed on one thing, well person, and one person only.

"Looking for Sakura?" came a melodic voice that Syaoran knew all too well.

"Yes actually," Syaoran replied with an obvious strain in his voice, "You wouldn't happened to have seen her would you?"

"Last I heard from the elders, weren't you supposed to be with her? That was the plan right?" Eriol's ominous tone rang throughout the entrance hall.

"Don't play with me Hiiragizawa. I know you're up to something." Syaoran responded showing only half the extent of his hatred of the man before him at the moment.

"Who's playing? The plan was, Li, that you'd find a way to get her to Hong Kong within the two weeks we were alotted. At your pace she wasn't even going to reach Tokyo. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands." Eriol's voice became serious and Syaoran fidgeted a little under the sharp gaze now being thrown at him.

"You talk about me not following the plan but you're the one that's deviating." Syaoran spat out to the other man.

"Well, I've made my own plan now." Suddenly the atmosphere lifted, "As long as the job gets done right?" Eriol's face broke into one of his trademark smiles. "Just remember," Eriol's face became serious once again, "You're not the only one that's lost something."

Syaoran made no attempt to respond or even fight back as he felt himself being teleported somewhere else. His eyes were solemn and unfocussed. His jaw tightened. His insides swirled as he felt the weightlessness of teleportation that he hadn't felt since he was a child training with the elders. In the blink of an eye, his former position on the carpet in the entrance room of Eriol's mansion was now empty and Sakura's previously vacant couch was occupied by the Li heir.

* * *

"Sakura! You alright?" Tomoyo asked worriedly as she waved a hand in front of Sakura's dazed face. The dolphin show was over and they were the only ones seated on the stands now. Sakura blinked her eyes and looked around as if forgetting where she was. realisation dawned on her and she looked to Tomoyo whose concerned face hadn't shifted. "Are you okay Sakura-chan?" She enquired once again. 

"Um, yeah, sorry about that. I sort of zoned out," Sakura replied glancing around, trying desperately to avoid Tomoyo's gaze.

"It's fine! But we should really get going, it's almost half past five." Tomoyo's voice echoed in the empty room and she stood up offering a helping hand out to Sakura. Sakura nodded slightly and took Tomoyo's hand to stand and they walked out of the aquarium. As they walked along the pavement, Tomoyo's eyes lit up and she grabbed Sakura's arm, "Sakura!! Can we pass the long way to get to your house? The park there is always so pretty and the houses around there are really elegant!" she happily requested.

"I guess so, it won't be dark for another hour or so, and I haven't passed that way for a while so why not? Let's go!" Sakura's face lit up also remembering the days when she would spend all of her time in the park.

They practically ran down the road and into the park where they slowed to a stop near the swings. After reminiscing for a while, they decided to keep walking and admire the resplendent houses along the way. Once or twice along the way Tomoyo stopped walking in awe of the beautiful house she was looking at but this time it Sakura who stopped walking as she gaped at one of the opulent houses on the hills. The surrounding lawn was decorated with flowers of all colours and trees of all shapes and sizes. She slowly made her way to the fence and leaned over to pick one of the petunias growing just along it.

"Oh, hello Sakura, what a surprise seeing you here!" A male voice called out to her. She jumped and looked toward the voice.

Smiling in recognition, she replied, "Hello Eriol! Is this your property? It's so magnificent!"

"Thank you, you're too kind but I can't take all the credit, I do have a gardener." The man chuckled at his statement and walked toward the pair of ladies. "Who's your friend?" He asked as he appeared in front of them.

"Oh, this is Tomoyo." Sakura introduced them and watched as Tomoyo and Eriol exchanged greetings and shook hands.

"Well, I was just watering my Aloe Vera plant over there." Eriol explained pointing toward a small bush further along the fence. "Want to hear something interesting about the plant?" he asked and Sakura nodded in response, "Well, it's one of the most useful plants in the world. It's great as a skin treatment and it heals all kinds of ailments. I heard somewhere that it's called 'The Life-saving Plant' because it's so useful." Eriol recited with a grin, looking almost as if he admired the plant for it's hard work.

Sakura's face went blank. 'Life-saving plant?' she thought to herself, 'This is it! This is what Syaoran needs.' She grinned in return and asked if she could have a piece of the plant.

"Why, sure! You can have a whole plant if you want, I have more in the back garden." he replied. So Eriol dug up the plant and placed it in one of his many pots and handed it over to Sakura. She thanked him profusely and left soon after with Tomoyo, all the while thinking of how lucky she was to have relieved herself of having Syaoran around her house, for now he could go back to Hong Kong and maybe her life would return to normal.

* * *

Wow, long chapter! My longest yet! I'm so proud of myself because I also updated before a month was up! I had a whole week more before a month was done. 

Anyway, about the whole Aloe Vera thing, it does grow in China but for the sake of my sanity I decided to alter that since I don't know/couldn't find another plant that is called 'the live-saving plant'. Also, I've decided not to break my story in two and I'll just continue with it under the name Puzzled because it really wouldn't make any sense since the 'sequel' isn't too long (I don't think). In other news, there are only two more chapters to go until this arc of the story is completed! Everything will be revealed! Oh, and sorry about just stating Sakura's past so blatantly in the middle, I really wasn't feeling to give flashbacks but I think since I did it this way it makes the chapter seemed rushed. Oh well, hopefully you guys think it's better than I do at the moment and you'll review!! Because reviewing saves lives!!

Til next time,

- INVU4URAQT


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** Thanks so much for the reviews and hits to my story. I'm so proud of this story so far (hopefully I don't ruin it). Anyway, I apologise once again for the last chapter, when I read it over I really didn't like how I did it. I'll try harder this chapter!

**DISCLAIMER:** Borrowing and owning are two completely different things. I am merely borrowing the characters of Card Captor Sakura whereas CLAMP owns the characters of (and the storyline and everything else to do with) Card Captor Sakura. So you see? I have no claim on it and therefore you can't sue me! Ha! I love when I beat the system. Oh and I also don't own anything to do with 'Phantom of the Opera'.

**Please read the note and postscript at the end of this chapter**

Onward ho!!

* * *

Syaoran had once again been outsmarted. The blue haired man was probably happily escorting Sakura to Hong Kong by now while he sat here on said girl's couch staring blankly at the wall in front of him. Not that he cared much about being outsmarted. Or even about Sakura being in Eriol's clutches. His mind was vacant of thought except for one sentence that was continuously replayed, 

"You're not the only one who's lost something."

How could he forget. He had been so caught up in his own problems he completely overlooked the fact that Eriol had been affected as well. Despite his hatred for the bespectacled man, they had formed a unique friendship, if one could call it that. He was ashamed of himself, to say the least, and he knew his mother would also be ashamed. It was the first time he'd ever felt so unsure about his actions, so hesitant about what he was supposed to do. He wasn't too sure anymore if he wanted to continue with this task but he knew he had to. If not for himself or the elders, then for what's left of Eriol's sanity.

With his resolve strengthened, he removed himself from the couch and made his way to the door in hopes of finding Sakura, however as he reached for the door handle, the plank of wood swung forward. He stepped back stunned a little and looked up to find Sakura staring peculiarly at him.

"How did you get in here, Syaoran?" Sakura asked suspiciously. She was glad that this man was going to leave, then strange occurrences like this wouldn't happen.

"You gave me a key, remember?" He said sheepishly and scratched his head.

"No I didn't." She resolutely replied. She definitely hadn't done that. She stepped into the house and waited for Tomoyo who was still walking up the pathway.

"Yeah, see?" He responded and pulled a key out of his back pocket identical to the one in Sakura's hand.

Sakura grabbed the key, insepected it and finally said, "Well you may have a copy but that's still not going to let you into my house. I have several doors remember?" She looked at him with a smirk. She had him there.

Syaoran narrowed his eyes. He certainly didn't need this right now. First he was defeated once again by his rival and now he had no way out of this mess without confessing everything, and he definitely didn't intend on admitting anything until at least the next three phases.

"Hey Syaoran, funny seeing you here, did Sakura-chan tell you the good news yet?" Tomoyo stepped through the threshold holding the plant they had received from Eriol, disrupting the conversation. Sakura blinked and turned to Tomoyo who had a bright smile plastered on her face. She was annoyed, he didn't have any way out! But she couldn't be upset with Tomoyo, she didn't know about all the strange occurrences that Sakura so desperately wanted answers to.

"Good news?" Syaoran questioned and looked from Tomoyo to Sakura.

"Yep! Sakura-chan met up with a friend of hers while we were walking and he gave us this plant. It's the life-saving plant that you need! Sakura-chan told me all about your poor dying mother, I was so happy that we could help you out by finding the plant for you!" Tomoyo answered and handed Syaoran the small plant in her hand. Sakura scoffed. Help him out sure, but what she really wanted was for him to leave. He knew too much about everything and he was way to smug about knowing everything.

Syaoran slowly reached out and took the plant from her. "Wow...I guess this means that I can go back...to my mother." He said with his eyes widened slightly in shock. He didn't see this coming.

"Yup! You can go back to where was it? Hong Kong? And you can save your mother! It was nice knowing you Syaoran, I hope we meet again someday, I'll come visit you, alright? There's absolutely no need for you to leave your mother again to come here." Sakura rambled happily as she gently pushed Syaoran out of her house, after which she firmly shut the door. She turned to Tomoyo who still had a bright smile and said, "So as I was saying, we should really try to solve this case."

Tomoyo nodded and they agreed that after a quick bite to eat, they would leave for the JTPS since all the evidence was there.

Meanwhile, outside the door Syaoran stood wide-eyed and mouth pressed into a thin line thinking, 'Now, I have no choice but to go back or else she'll get suspicious, but I can't leave or you won't have anyone to stop whatever heinous plan you may be thinking of. I see now, you weren't trying to reach Sakura first, you wanted to get me out of the picture.'

* * *

"Two more robberies." The voice of Namikawa boomed in the small conference room as he paced in front of the four faces staring back at him. 

"Why wasn't I informed of this?" Sakura bellowed. She along with Tomoyo, Tatsu and Yumi were the four present at the meeting. "It is my case after all."

"Yes well, you were out all of today so I had no opportunity to tell you, besides which, they only occurred early this morning." Namikawa responded calmly. Sakura silently fumed. She still couldn't forgive her boss for giving her a partner again, no matter how much she liked Tomoyo, she couldn't get Shimura out of her mind. He had ruined teamwork for her.

Namikawa's gaze softened a little seeing Sakura's obvious torment. She was like the daughter he never had. But he knew, no matter how much she may not like having a partner again, it was good for her. She needed to move on and maybe giving her a partner would help her. He cleared his throat and continued with his speech, "All the stores robbed were jewellery stores and the articles taken were not worth more than five hundred dollars. These thieves obviously did not want the jewels, or the money since they didn't take more than one hundred from the cash register either. So I believe they were targeting the eight store owners: Noa Shingo, Hatori Tachi, Naoko Yanagisawa, Kei Hiko, Otome Midou, Ginto Masao, Oji Kyosuke and Genta Ayami. However, what I don't know is why them." he said as he pointed at each store owner's face on the screen behind him.

Tomoyo giggled slightly as she finished writing in her notepad. "Something funny Miss Daidouji?" Namikawa asked as the rest of the occupants turned to look at the girl. "It's nothing sir, I was just noting how the first letters of the first names of the store owners when rearranged spell 'gong honk'" Sakura couldn't help but crack a smile at the girl, she was definitely a cryptologist, that was sure.

"Daidouji! I think you're on to something there." Namikawa exclaimed, "Miss Tenji, what possibilities do you get with their last names?" He said referring to Yumi.

Yumi wrote down the letters and after some scribbling she said, "The only real words are 'Mask Myth'"

Sakura had also been scribbling, "Hong Kong!" She shouted, "You get Hong Kong from the letters of their first names as well."

"Excellent you two!" Namikawa said. "Do you believe there's anything worth investigating in these anagrams?"

Tatsu's eyes lit up, "Well, sir, I read that there was a museum exhibit opening in London on 'The Phantom of the Opera' who was said to be a masked myth."

"And Hong Kong is in China so maybe either of these places is where the thieves are originally from or that's where their main base is located." Yumi continued.

Sakura's eyes narrowed, Syaoran was from Hong Kong, and Eriol was originally from England.

"Well, I'll have to send two groups to both places," He stated.

"Tatsu and I can go to London," Yumi suggested adding that she had family there so it was easy.

"Ok, so Sakura and Tomoyo, you will go to Hong Kong and Yumi and Tatsu, you will go to England. Report any activity similar to what occurred here and we'll solve this case in no time. Be ready to leave by Wednesday morning (A/N: Remember it's still Monday)." Namikawa announced and left the other four to discuss their courses of action. It was agreed that the group going to London will stake out the opening of the exhibit and look for any faces similar to those in the photos and videos. However, the group going to Hong Kong were at a loss as to where to start looking. Hong Kong was a big city, after all.

* * *

Meanwhile, Syaoran had finished packing and had asked Meiling to send a jet to fly him home. She was disappointed to hear about Eriol's devious twists but she assured her distraught cousin that everything would work out the way they originally planned, since Eriol said himself that he was merely speeding things up not changing the plan completely. 

On his way to the airport, Syaoran sat thinking of a new plan to contest Eriol's however, he was distracted by the shrill ring of his cellphone, "Hello?" He asked.

"Hello Syaoran." Eriol's voice spoke.

"Speak of the devil." Syaoran said gritting his teeth.

"Oh were you talking about me? You know, talking to yourself is considered insanity." Eriol said smugly and Syaoran could just picture the arrogant look on the speaker's face.

"How did you know I was alone..wait, nevermind. What do you want Hiiragizawa?"

"No need to be harsh Syaoran, I got you home early didn't I?" Eriol's voice overflowing with sweetness.

"Early, yes, but without a certain green-eyed girl." Syaoran didn't bother to hide the resentment in his voice. Eriol had tricked him.

"Don't worry about that, she'll be in Hong Kong by Wednesday, I have my people working on it." Eriol stated pleased with himself.

"By Wednesday, huh?" Syaoran's frustration grew. This man needed to decided whose side he was on. "Well then, I guess I'll have everyone over in Hong Kong prepare for her arrival. Hopefully she'll figure out-"

"She's smart Syaoran. She'll figure that much out, and even if she doesn't, don't you and your people have a back up plan for that?" The blue-haired man cut him off and asked rhetorically. "So, do you have anything to say to me?" he continued.

"Don't push it Hiiragizawa." Syaoran said and ended the call. Hiiragizawa sure knew how to manipulate people. He made a mental note not to get on his bad side. He checked his watch and noted that he would be boarding the plane soon so he might as well enjoy his remaining minutes. He tucked his cellphone back in his pocket and picked up his Aloe Vera plant, he couldn't very well leave it to die.

On the other end, Eriol chuckled as he heard the click that signalled Syaoran had hung up. 'I guess that's as much thanks as I'm going to get from him.' he thought and turned his attention back to the window overlooking his garden. Now all he had to do was sit back and watch the show, oh and make that one brief appearance, but he would see about that later.

* * *

Tuesday morning dawned a bit too early for Sakura's liking. She had stayed up late Monday night researching Hong Kong and all the possible places that they could start investigating but she came up with nothing. She bought several guide books but none of them showed her anything that she thought was linked to the robberies. So she resigned three o'clock that morning to her now empty house to get some well-deserved rest. However, she was not allowed this luxury as the sunlight shone through her window and lingered on her face preventing her from continuing her slumber. Why didn't she close her stupid curtains. She lazily sat herself up and glanced around her room. For some reason she felt nostalgic looking at all her belongings, as if she were looking at it for the last time before a really long trip. Well, it was a long trip, who knew when she might be back; maybe if there was suspicious activity in London, but then she'd have to fly there. She sighed deeply and tried to push the thought out of her mind while at the same time deciding to pack everything of even a little value to her. 

She stretched her limbs and finally got up from her bed, taking a deep breath. Sakura, despite being unable to think of somewhere to start the investigation in Hong Kong, felt unusually happy this morning. Maybe it was because Syaoran wasn't there, or maybe because they made a breakthrough in the case, or maybe the thrill of travelling somewhere, or maybe just the sunny morning that she had the pleasure of getting up to. She shrugged and made her way to the bathroom to prepare for the long day ahead of her.

Showers have a way of relaxing one so much that one's mind indulges in a never-ending train of thought of unimportant events or images. So it was with this particular shower that Sakura was having that morning. Her mind skipped from topic to topic until it landed on a newspaper article she had read a couple days before. It was a biography about the young and the rich in Japan. She had found it interesting, most of those millionaires and billionaires were her age. Oh what she would give to be that rich. Then she could fuel her own search for her brother. But, alas, she was not and those rich young people had worked for their money (or at least most of them had). There were a few heirs and heiresses but most were entrepeneurs. There was one in particular who was most interesting. One girl, she was an heiress to some toy company but she had also made a name for herself as a famous fashion designer, but Sakura wasn't much into brand names so of course she had never heard of the girl before...what was her name? Dadodge? Doudigi? Something like that. This thought lead her on to thinking of her new partner. The mysterious Tomoyo Daidouji...Daidouji? She thought that was the name of the girl in the article. She would ask Tomoyo if she had a relative in the fashion industry when she saw her later. A multitude of other thoughts bombarded her mind afterward, which she soon forgot about as she stepped out of the shower. What was the sense in retaining such knowledge in her field of work?

* * *

It was almost midday and Syaoran jogged solemnly down the road from his apartment in Hong Kong. His flight the day before had him in China by ten that night, so he didn't have a chance to visit his mother, and now he decided was as good a time than any to see her. He bought some flowers and hugged the Aloe Vera plant he had brought with him and set off, the plant was given to him in the knowledge it would be given to his mother so he might as well abide with it. 

He opened the creaky gate and walked along until he saw her. "Hello Mother," he said softly, "I'm back. I brought you these and Sakura sent you this plant, Meiling made her believe that it would save you from your illness. Funny huh?" He continued and laid the two items he brought in front of the slab of stone, "If she only knew that you couldn't be saved from what plagued you." He knelt down on the grass and lightly traced his fingers over the words engraved in the stone. No one could have saved her, not even him, and though he knew that, he still blamed himself for what happened. If only he had been there. 'You would have gotten killed too,' a little voice in his head said to him. He had had many internal battles over this but no matter what his brain said, his heart still felt heavy with guilt.

He sat down near the stone and gazed over the field of grass before him to what used to be his home. He couldn't bear to live there after his mother died so he rented himself an apartment a little while away from here, and paid the maids and gardeners to maintain the mansion so his sisters could stay there when they visited. He could have moved into his mansion in Japan but he didn't want to leave the rest of his family here so he just had it as a vacation house (as if he ever got vacation). He had a non-stop role managing both the Li Clan and his business, no wonder he was so exhausted. He enjoyed these moments where he could just leave everything behind and stare out over his childhood home, on this little hill. It was his spot. That was why he chose to bury his mother here. She always had a calming aura about her, despite the initial rigidness that one would feel, so her presence here made him tune out from his busy schedule.

A shrill ringing disturbed his thoughts. "Not even five minutes alone..." he muttered to himself. He really needed to turn his cellphone off sometimes, but he wouldn't. He couldn't, too many people needed to contact him and he couldn't just deny them, no matter how much it was costing him energy-wise.

"Syaoran?" He heard his cousin's worried voice on the other end.

"What is it Meiling?" He asked, concern barely hidden in his tone.

"Did you know that Sakura's arriving in Hong Kong tomorrow?" She questioned.

"Yes, I was about to come and inform you. I was just visiting mother." He replied.

"Oh sorry, I'll let everyone know not to disturb you. Take your time, we still have an entire day to get things organised." She responded, her voice soft.

"No it's okay, I'll be there in less than ten minutes, we have a lot to take care of." He hung up after saying this for fear of Meiling arguing with his choice. His mother would always be here, but Sakura wasn't always going to be in Hong Kong, so he need to get it right on this one and only chance. He stood up and after whispering a goodbye and a promise of return to his mother, he set off down the street.

* * *

Sakura stared at the items on her bed, she had no solution to her present dilemna; which shirt to wear to travel? She sighed deeply and decided she'd come back to that later. For now she'd just make sure she packed all her other necessities to last her a couple weeks, if she needed anything more, she figured she could just buy in Hong Kong. As she stood in her living room around half two that afternoon, trying to decide if she needed anything in there, she heard her doorbell. She checked the camera she had installed and saw that it was Tomoyo. She quickly opened the doors and allowed Tomoyo to rest her stuff on the living room coffee table. 

"Sakura-chan!! I was rummaging through my closet and I saw this absolutely cute outfit that I made and I thought you'd look so adorable wearing it when we go to Hong Kong tomorrow!" Tomoyo practically yelled as she searched through the bag she had brought with her. She pulled out a three-quarter sleeved pink shirt with cherry blossom prints along the hem and an ankle length deep blue jeans with vine patterns running up the seams.

Sakura stepped back a little to admire the outfit and she had to admit, if Tomoyo had made it, she definitely had skill. She was then reminded of her previous thoughts in the shower, "Hey, Tomoyo, do you have a relative in the fashion industry?" she asked taking the outfit from Tomoyo's outstretched hands.

"No Sakura-chan, as far as I know I'm the only member of my family interested in fashion. Everyone else is busy trying get a claim on my mom's toy company, " She admitted while foraging again in the bag before continuing, "Look, I even made myself a matching outfit so we could look like twins! Except for the 'identical features' thing." She happily concluded, showing off her own outfit that was purple instead of pink.

Sakura was shocked, if what Tomoyo was saying was true then she was the millionaire heiress that she had read about. But if she was, then why was she working as a cryptologist, it definitely wouldn't be for the money, but although Sakura wasn't rich she wasn't working for money either, though it was a plus. This girl was very enigmatic, and yet Sakura felt drawn to her. And though she hated to admit it, she also felt drawn to Syaoran and Eriol as well. As if they were all connected in some way to each other that she just didn't know. She shrugged it off, some people were just compatible.

* * *

For the rest of the afternoon, Tomoyo assisted Sakura in packing her things since Tomoyo had finished long before. Tomoyo admitted that she had travelled often so she had a knack for packing after doing it so many times. So, under the expert supervision of Tomoyo, Sakura was done packing by five o'clock. She thanked Tomoyo and after having dinner together, they parted in order to rest up for there early flight the next morning. They agreed they would meet at the airport at four the next morning to check in together for their five o'clock flight. Sakura went to bed by eight and ensured that she set her alarm to wake her up. She surprisingly got up very chipper for that early hour, maybe it was just nerves, she had only travelled once before and she still wasn't too sure about going hundreds of miles above the sea in an aluminium can. 

She took a bath and dressed in the outfit Tomoyo had brought, it sure beat trying to decide what to wear. She grabbed her bags agfter a quick breakfast and headed out of her almost empty house to the airport but surprisingly, waiting outside in front of her house was a black limo. The window was rolled down and there was Tomoyo's cheery face smiling at her. So she really was rich. Sakura's face broke into a smile, it was something she couldn't help but do around Tomoyo, and after placing her bags in the trunk, she crawled in with Tomoyo and fully enjoyed the ride to the airport.

When they arrived, there weren't many lines, it was after all a Wednesday morning, so they checked in fairly quickly and waited patiently with the thirty or so other people for the plane to take them to China. Sakura had brought along all the handbooks she had about Hong Kong to read, it was a five hour flight, so she got a head start on some of the sites that she could possibly visit before anything suspicious occurred.

When they were finally on the plan and high up in the sky, Sakura started to notice a trend in all of her tourist booklets. They all constantly advertised the stores of Hong Kong's famous markets. Sakura's mind flicked back to what Namikawa was saying on Monday afternoon. All the stores robbed were jewellery stores. Maybe there was a trend because they were trying to send another message? First Hong Kong and now this? She wasn't sure but she would definitely tell Tomoyo, when they landed, about her inference and, she unconsciously decided, they would have to investigate all the jewellery stores they came across in Hong Kong.

* * *

To be continued...

* * *

Done! Longest chapter yet...and I have a feeling that the next chapter will be even longer, it's the conclusion of everything for this arc. All your questions will be answered, like, "What's the point of this story?" Or "I wonder what Syaoran planning in Hong Kong?" I can tell you that it's nothing romantic (although I wish I could incorporate romance in this story). And I'm sorry for killing off Sakura's father and Syaoran's mother...I felt horrible writing those parts. And I'm terribly sorry for the other characters that I'll be killing in the next chapter, but it's all part of the reason of why all of this is happening.

I was reading over my earlier chapters and I barely remember writing them. To think this story started off with Sakura taking a visit to the bookstore to get a puzzle book. Now look where it's reached. Oh well, thanks so much once again for all the support that my reviewers have been giving me and all the feedback. I honestly feel that with this story, my writing skills have definitely improved.

Anyways on to a less exciting **NOTE**, I'm really going to have to ask you readers to give me an extension on the deadline for the next chapter since I have mock exams and I really want to concentrate on that. I'll still be writing the chapter just not as fervently as with this chapter. You can check the status of the progress in my profile. At least give me a month and a half before you start expecting the next chapter because that's how long my mocks last and unless I get sudden bursts of inspiration that I can't ignore, then that's the length of time you will have to wait for another chapter. So thanks in advance for your patience with me and your continuing support. Til next chapter,

- INVU4URAQT

** PS:** I really want to know your thoughts on this chapter and what you guys think is gonna happen in the next chapter (just so I could see if I'm as obvious as I think I am). So I would appreciate it if in your review (which I know you're going to leave) you would put the above criteria as well as what you have to say about anything else. Thanks!


	11. Chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER:** This plot is all my imagination, however some of the characters are not mine. Those characters belong to CLAMP and I am just borrowing them, ok? So don't sue me!!! I don't gots no money...

**A/N:** Thanks so much for all the reviews and your patience. I passed all of my mock exams!!! But I won't bore you with my post exam excitement, and I'll get straight down to THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THIS ARC!!!!!!! I'm so proud (tear tear) I would like to inform you all that **I will be taking an EXTREMELY short vacation from this story for the moment**. After mock exams comes real exams don't ya know it, so in order for me to not fail in life, I will be concentrating on those exams (which end in June). But don't worry, I'll be sure to keep writing (just not posting) and by the end of my exams I'll probably have two chapters waiting for you guys. I'm so nice I know. I've already started plotting out the second arc which seems to be getting very complicated. (And I've only been planning it.) The kinks will be smoothed out as soon as I can think of something that would make sense (rather than everyone randomly dying because a giant meteor crashed into the earth). Anyways, I guess that's enough ranting!

Onwards!!

* * *

"Hello everyone," Eriol greeted as he entered the large room. Three pairs of eyes raised to look at the newcomer. 

"Uncle Eriol!" A young girl yelled and ran up to the man, reaching up to indicate she wanted him to lift her up.

"Hello Mei-Mei!" He replied referring to the child by the nickname he had given her. He lifted her light body and spun her around to end up facing a grown woman that hadn't even looked up from the computer screen when he entered. He stared at her a while as he put the girl back on the ground and she ran back to her chair and her previous interest of the colouring book on the table.

"What, Hiiragizawa?" The woman now turned to look at him, her mouth pressed into a thin line, annoyed at his staring.

"Still upset my dear?" The blue-eyed man walked over to a free chair and sat down as her eyes followed him.

"Why wouldn't I be?" The girl with raven hair glared at him as though he was insane for thinking she would not be angry with him.

The spectacles he was wearing glinted as he leaned back in the chair and replied calmly, "Come now Meiling, I did get her here didn't I?"

The young woman scoffed and turned back to what she was doing, "That may be so, but you didn't comply with the direct instructions you were given."

"You and your plans," he responded waving his hand nonchalantly, "You can't really expect me to follow a plan where Syaoran gets to have all the fun while I just sit there."

Meiling could barely control her frustration at the man, "Technically, you didn't 'just sit there'. And Syaoran 'has all the fun', as you say, because he follows instructions!" She practically yelled the statement at him, her hands moving faster across the keyboard in front of her.

"Hmm... you may have a point there." Eriol smirked.

Meiling stopped her rapid typing. Hiiragizawa was impossible! She stood up abruptly and stalked over to the chair he was seated at, "Listen, you!" She poked his chest roughly for emphasis, "You jeopardized all of us with your haphazardness!" All eyes were now on the scene that was unfolding. They knew this was a normal occurrence between the two...acquaintances, but it was always fun to watch.

Eriol merely blinked at her sudden motion, "I was only having some fun, there was no need to worry."

That was it. Meiling had lost her cool. She lunged at the man in the chair, grabbing for his neck and wrestling him onto the floor while shouting incoherently. Syaoran, who had been observing the conversation struggling to not laugh, quickly rushed forward, clutched Meiling's shirt collar and dragged her up still struggling. Eriol slowly got up grinning and rubbing his neck where she had previously attached herself.

"Stop your bickering you two, Sakura's flight will be landing soon and we still need to get everyone in place." Syaoran said, guiding Meiling back to the chair she had occupied. He stood in front of the room and cleared his throat gaining the attention of the three other adults present. "Now, is group C in place?" He asked looking at Toushi, Meiling's husband and one of the coordinators of their scheme. The man nodded and Syaoran then turned to Meiling saying, "You know what to do right?" Meiling grumbled a yes and he turned his attention to Eriol, "Group A?" Eriol nodded adding an affirmative. "Good, now I'll just have to keep an eye on Group B and things should run smoothly. I'll see you all later." He said goodbye and walked toward the doorway. "Come along Mei, I'll take you to school," Syaoran said once more before leaving with the little girl.

* * *

As the plane landed, Sakura poked Tomoyo awake, the girl had fallen asleep as soon as the plane took off. Tomoyo's eyes opened groggily and upon hearing that the plane was now on the ground she stood up in the aisle, stretched a little and took her hand bag down from the overhead compartment. She checked her watch which was set to Hong Kong time and saw that it was now ten o'clock. 'Wow, this plane is very prompt,' she thought idly as she and Sakura followed the line of people out of the plane and into the airport. 

As they exited customs, they were swarmed by a huge crowd awaiting their family members or friends. The two girls pushed through the people and came out near the exit of the airport, near the taxis. Sakura tapped Tomoyo's shoulder who looked up from the floor, trying to avoid stepping on anyone. "While we were on the plane I had an idea!" Sakura shouted over the crowds. Tomoyo leaned her ear in closer so she could hear. "I was thinking, isn't it strange that the only stores the thieves targeted were jewellery stores?" Sakura continued.

"Well, jewellery is more expensive than most other things sold normally," Tomoyo reasoned.

Sakura placed a finger to her chin and her eyes glinted, "That may be true but they hardly took any jewellery. If they wanted to, they could have taken everything in the stores and we still wouldn't be able to track them, but they didn't. I think it's another message."

Tomoyo's eyes widened in realization. Sakura was on to something. "That's right! They really like these hidden messages." Tomoyo chuckled a little before continuing, "So what do you think we should do? Check every single jewellery story in Hong Kong? There must be hundreds!"

Sakura smiled, "Yes, I thought of that too. While I was looking through my tourist guides they all advertised Hong Kong's famous street markets. This is just a guess, but I think that somewhere in one of these markets is where the thieves reside."

Tomoyo broke into a smile, "Sakura-chan, you're amazing! Well which market should we tackle first? There must be lots that sell jewellery."

Sakura's face contorted, "I haven't figured that out yet. There are lots of markets and most of them sell some sort of jewellery."

Tomoyo's face didn't falter, "That's okay Sakura-chan! You came up with a big lead! We can go to the hotel and do some research on which markets specialize in selling jewellery and we can start on those tomorrow!" Tomoyo smiled brightly and Sakura couldn't help but return the action. She shuffled around in her handbag and took out the booklet she had on the hotel she and Tomoyo were staying at. She plucked it out of the bag and handed it to Tomoyo who was next to her.

"That's the hotel," she said. Tomoyo examined the booklet and nodded commenting that she couldn't wait to take a dip in the pool. They began walking toward the pavement when suddenly Sakura bumped into someone. She quickly turned around to see a little girl frantically picking up fliers that had spilled in the collision. Tomoyo and Sakura hurriedly bent down to help collect them while Sakura apologized to the girl profusely. The girl looked up and her sharp red eyes caught Sakura's green ones. The little girl merely nodded and slowly stood up, her eyes never straying from Sakura's. Sakura seemed mesmerized by the young girl...she seemed so familiar. After a minute or so the girl's face broke into a soft, timid smile before she turned and walked away into the crowd. Tomoyo leaned over to Sakura and whispered, "That was weird." The other girl merely nodded a little and turned back to continue their walk to the taxi stand. Tomoyo followed behind her, one of the fliers in her hand. "Hey Sakura-chan check this out, it's advertising a jewellery store."

Sakura turned to the flier in Tomoyo's hand, 'How ironic,' she thought and took it to observe it carefully. Her eyes passed over the words and she instantly saw something amiss. She handed it back to Tomoyo, "Read it carefully," she said looking straight into Tomoyo's eyes. Tomoyo glanced at the paper in her hand once more, slowly going through each line and absorbing the information. As she got to the fourth line her eyes bulged. "It says 'Sakura'." she whispered to herself and looked to Sakura.

Sakura nodded and took the flier once more. This was definitely not a coincidence. It was so obvious, did they really think she was that dumb? The flier was written in Chinese, of course, advertising the sale of sakura petal necklaces. However the oddity was that the word 'sakura' was written in Japanese characters while everything else was in Chinese. Sakura's eyes passed over the crowd. She couldn't see the little girl anywhere. She was really getting frustrated with all these disappearing and reappearing acts that kept happening around her. She looked at Tomoyo and after a few silent moments of thought, she said, "Whoever our bandits are really want us to find them." She waved the flier as proof and pointed to the name of the store, "This is where we have to go."

Tomoyo nodded in agreement. She could tell Sakura was really getting annoyed at this case so she suggested they go later that day to get it over with. Sakura agreed and walked off to the taxi stand once again. Tomoyo's eyes softened, although she had only known Sakura for a few days she felt a certain responsibility to her. As if she was in charge of her well-being, sort of like a big sister. Tomoyo smiled a little at the thought and she started after Sakura.

* * *

"They're closed?" Tomoyo said confusedly as she and Sakura glanced at the sign on the door. After a short break at the hotel and a quick lunch, the girls had decided to head to the store. On the flier, it said the store opened from ten to six with a break from twelve to one, so they found it strange that at quarter to two the store was closed. 

It was even stranger that their cab driver hadn't been able to find the place even though it was in an area that was bare of any sort of building other than a telephone booth a few metres away, which in itself was quite strange. The girls looked around, their driver had long since abandoned them muttering incoherently about things appearing out of no where. Sakura knew the feeling. If she didn't know better she would have believed that this 'building' was a temporary structure merely built here for her arrival. But she did know better and the idea that someone would be so determined to get her alone somewhere that they would build an entire building just to accommodate that purpose was unfathomable. She nearly laughed at the thought.

Sakura was pulled from her thoughts by Tomoyo, "Why don't we just break in?"

Sakura's eyes widened. She never thought Tomoyo was capable of even suggesting something like that and was at a loss for words. "B-but isn't that...illegal?" she stammered.

"Come on Sakura-chan, you can't tell me you've never done anything illegal." Tomoyo chided and chuckled a little at the other girl's facial expression.

"Well, I can't say that I have. I usually had permission from the government to break in somewhere since it was usually for one of my cases." Sakura admitted bashfully.

"Sakura-chan, we're friends right?" Tomoyo asked and waited for the girl to nod before continuing,"Right, then would I ever do anything that wasn't for your own good?" Tomoyo looked at Sakura earnestly. Sakura thought there was a second meaning behind her words but she was cut short from thinking about it when Tomoyo said with a big grin on her face, "Plus, there's a first time for everything! This is for a case, we can explain everything after." She then began to walk around the building observing the possible points of entry. Sakura stood rooted. She was knowingly going to break the law and to catch thieves. She couldn't help but smile a little at the irony. "Sakura-chan!! I found something!" Tomoyo yelled from the side of the building. Sakura walked toward her and she noticed Tomoyo sliding one of the windows open to allow them to enter. As Tomoyo successfully climbed through the square-shaped hole, she beckoned Sakura in as well, who followed quite reluctantly.

Sakura grabbed onto the top of the window sill and lifted her self up so that her legs could fit through the hole, now she was sitting on the sill and merely ducked her head and slid into the store. She grabbed her heart which was pumping nonstop with the thrill of doing something criminal. If she wasn't so fearful of going to jail she would consider a career as a thief just for the rush. Or at least that's what she told herself she would do. She moved to walk forward when she bumped into Tomoyo.

"Sakura-chan can you feel that?" Tomoyo questioned.

Sakura's heart slowed down and she finally noticed what Tomoyo was talking about, the hairs on her arms and neck were standing on end while the roots of her hair felt strange. She wasn't cold, the room was strangely hotter than outside. And she wasn't scared so why were the hairs standing on end. The two girls slowly walked around the room trying to figure out the source of the strange phenomena when suddenly something caught Sakura's eye, there were several miniature metal cylinders jutting out of the base of the wall on all of the walls. She slowly walked toward them and as she edged closer the hairs stood even taller. She jumped and for that split second, the hairs relaxed but as soon as her feet neared the ground they resumed their previous action.

"Tomoyo, I think it's some sort of magnetic or electric field we're standing in..." She commented slowly.

"That's new..." Tomoyo replied walking toward her. "Do any of your guidebooks advertise this?" she asked as she reached Sakura's side.

"Nope..." Sakura couldn't help but wonder what was the point of installing something like this. Maybe to attract the metal in the jewellery if they were stolen? But Sakura wore a metallic necklace and Tomoyo had on some jewellery as well, but those weren't being attracted to the floor. Maybe it was used as a security system...but how could that work? She voiced this to Tomoyo who gasped.

"That's true! Sakura-chan, I think you may be right; with the right technology people can read interruptions in a magnetic or electrical field. If someone was watching the behaviour of these fields while we were walking around they would definitely be able to tell that someone was here." Tomoyo spewed out. Her tone was anxious.

Sakura's eyes widened as the information sunk in. They were going to be caught. She panicked, her breath came out in short raspy gasps. She turned to Tomoyo and was on the verge of tears, she didn't want to be known for a felony. Tomoyo grasped her shoulders, "Sakura-chan! Control yourself. Listen, I think I can hear sirens."

Sakura quieted down a little before starting back even worse after confirming Tomoyo's suspicions. Tomoyo had to shake Sakura to calm her down. "Sakura-chan, I have an idea," she looked toward the front door as she heard the screeching of tires. "I'll stay here and take care of these guys, ok? You go on ahead through the back room and catch those criminals."

Sakura's eyes lingered to the door then back to Tomoyo, "But I can't just let you..." she was silenced by Tomoyo's stare.

The other girl pushed Sakura through the back door into the hallway and closed it before she had a chance to protest. "It's your case! You go solve it," she said loud enough for Sakura to hear through the door. Sakura moved to open the door but heard the shouts of men in the other room. Her hand froze on the doorknob as she listened for a while. There was silence when she assumed Tomoyo was trying to explain and then a rush of voices again. She was tempted to go help Tomoyo but she knew that she couldn't. She might possibly make Tomoyo's story unbelievable if she walked out in the middle. So with a solemn heart, as though she had left a friend to die, she slowly turned to face the hallway and walked through the swinging doors on the other side of the room into the back room.

* * *

The room was long and wide, and obviously used for storage. There were boxes upon boxes of jewels stacked neatly in rows along the length of the room. Sakura walked around looking for any sign of a living thing but came up empty handed. She stood still, with her hand on her chin, why would they lead her to a building and not be in it? Maybe, she thought, there was another clue somewhere in here. She walked back to where she had entered and tackled the first stack of boxes, opening and searching through each one in hopes of finding something. She must have spent at least ten minutes searching until she finally gave up. She had gotten through three of the seven rows of boxes, she didn't have time for this, Tomoyo might not be able to hold off the police for much longer. Maybe they had read the flier wrong, maybe they weren't supposed to come to the jewellery store but rather, there was another hidden message somewhere in it. With that thought, Sakura pulled the flier out of her pocket and started trying to decipher it. 

Sakura sighed after reading it for the third time. There was absolutely nothing that she could see. But, she couldn't just give up now that Tomoyo had practically risked her record for this. Sakura closed her eyes, took a deep breath and prepared herself to start looking again. As she opened her eyes, she noticed an odd painting on the wall to the right of her. She walked closer to observe it, it seemed to be the only thing of any vibrant colour in the room, strange she hadn't noticed it before, yet it seemed so familiar to her. She was mesmerized by the intricacy of it. One knew it was a painting and yet there seemed to be indentations like a sculpture. Sakura gently ran her finger across the painting and became even more entranced as she felt the ridges from the paint. Her finger sunk and rose as the plains of the painting changed.

However, she was snapped out of her reverie when she heard shouting coming from outside. She swore silently and glanced back at the flier in her hand, "...Sakura petal necklaces and lockets on sale..." she read. How strange, none of the boxes she had searched had any lockets in them. She decided to analyze it quickly one more time. The Sakura petals symbolized her. The store is where she was supposed to come, so what's with the locket? The shouting was getting louder. Sakura panicked...locket, locket, locket! What did they want? "...and lockets..." Was she supposed to come with a locket? Maybe that meant Tomoyo, but there was no way Tomoyo was going to be able to come here and help even if she hadn't been arrested yet.

Well, literally, she had come with a locket, she thought and absently reached at her neck for it. Were they talking about that? But there was no special meaning behind it, it was merely a gift from her father years ago. As she heard footsteps coming toward the door, she figured she might as well give it a shot. She took off the locket from around her neck and opened it. Now what? Her eyes landed on the family photo inside. It was one of the few pictures with all four of her family members in it. She had always loved the second picture inside too, it was abstract...just like... She glanced back at the picture on the wall. She mentally slapped herself. How very obvious. She closed back the locket and placed it against the painting in the largest of the many indentations and the locket seemed to fit snuggly. She heard a creaking sound behind her and when she turned there was a hole where there had once been the floor. She grabbed the locket and kneeled down beside the hole, noticing it opened to a slide. She sat on the edge, lowered herself onto the smooth metal and felt herself slip down the cool silver substance.

She landed neatly on the ground with her face flushed and hair messy from the wind that had been blowing in her face. She smiled giddily, she hadn't been on a slide for a very long time. She looked around the large room and noticed the same painting on the wall in front of her. She quickly placed the locket in the same depression and she heard the creaking noise echoing from where she had just came from. It would be a little weird if someone were to walk in and see a large hole in the floor, she thought. She replaced her locket around her neck and walked through the only doorway in the room. It was a one way trip from now because she was sure she wouldn't be able to climb back up the steep, smooth slope.

* * *

"Come now, calm down, this is not what it looks like," Tomoyo tried to explain. At least a dozen pistols were aimed at her as she lifted her arms slowly in the air. The men in front of her whispered to each other and she frantically tried to think of an excuse. "My uh...brother, works here and he told me to come visit him today but the store was locked...and...I thought he was just playing a prank on me! Yeah because he usually does that at home, lock me out of my room and force me to climb in through the window so that's what I did here too...because...I thought it was..a joke.." She trailed off as the policemen just continued to stare. One of the men in front, presumably the leader, whispered something and the rest of the troop slowly lowered their weapon. 

"What is your brother's name?" the leader shouted.

Tomoyo's eyes narrowed. She didn't want to take this lie too far but the man was expecting an answer. Tomoyo smiled a little and said, "Well I was about to go in the back to find him, you can question us both afterward." She was an expert at dodging questions. She began to turn around so she could go in the door through which she had pushed Sakura but she was stopped by the shouts of every single law enforcer behind her.

"Wait just a second there miss," the leader said, "why don't we just take a look see and find him for you?" The man stared her straight in her eyes. From her position in front of the door she could hear shuffling from the other side. She couldn't let them in there with Sakura still inside. She had to think quick, they were walking toward her.

"Uh, hold on! Um, you can't go in." She said to them.

"Why not?"

Her mind was rushing with ideas. Why couldn't they go in? There was a bomb? No that would cause even more trouble. Should she faint? No, that wouldn't stop them. Ah ha! "Because you see, my brother, he's...mentally disabled and you might scare him. The owners of this store are friends of the family so they graciously let him work here despite his disability." She related her entire 'family' history and the relationship with this store owner and by the end of her lengthy explanation, some of the policemen were in tears, but not the leader. Darn.

"That's all well and good, but we received reports of a break in here and I don't intend to lose my job by not thoroughly investigating." The man took off his shades and started to walk toward the door. Tomoyo rushed to his side spurting out reasons to try to convince him not to enter the room but he kept walking.

As he was about to open the door, she shouted, "No! Sakura..." However, they both noticed the room was empty. "..petals are fragile! The Sakura petals are fragile and you can't just barge in there, you might have knocked the boxes down..." She quickly covered her outburst, inwardly relieved that Sakura had found the way.

* * *

Sakura vaguely heard the voices of the policemen as she made her way down the winding hallway from the room she was in previously. She couldn't help but feel excited at the prospect of seeing where she came out at the end of this underground tunnel, and yet she was also scared. Who knew what could be at the end? What she was really wondering about was her locket. She had been wearing it since she could remember, only thinking it was a mere memento but here it opened secret passageways? She was greatly intrigued by it all despite the constant fear of the truth that nagged at her as well, knowing that the whole story would be revealed eventually. 

She walked along, noting that the ground was slightly tilted downward meaning that she was going further underground. Sakura also noted that this tunnel was used often considering that there were lanterns hoisted on the walls on either side of her. Soon enough, she reached a small room. The floor was tiled here unlike in the tunnel where it was concrete. The room was dark. The only light source was the lamp hanging above a staircase in the centre of the room. Apart from that, the room was completely empty. The staircase led up and Sakura, starting to get a little claustrophobic, didn't hesitate before ascending them.

She had climbed four flights of stairs and she was beginning to feel a little winded. She silently cursed herself for being out of shape. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have two deserts at lunch. She paused a little, and looked around. The stairs were winding around a hollow square tower. She looked down over the edge of the stairs and saw the flight she had finished climbing, She turned upward and groaned at the site. There seemed to be no end! She saw stairs fading into darkness. She let out an exasperated sigh. She wasn't going to get anyway by complaining, so she continued along the seemingly never-ending staircase.

By the time she had reached the eighth flight of stairs she was really beginning to get tired. She trudged slowly up the next few stairs, trying to convince her body that it was only a little longer she had to climb. She stopped, she suddenly felt as though she was being watched. Sakura looked around her again, seeing nothing but the metal bars of the railing and the stairs she hadn't yet climbed. She heard a slight scratch of something against metal and turned to the sound. it was over the railing. Her feet moved forward toward it of their own accord and as she peered over the edge, she found herself staring into ruby red eyes. There was a girl of about her age hanging onto the rails of the flight of stairs below her. The eyes, she recalled, looked just like the young girl's whom she had bumped into that morning.

The other girl, swung herself over the edge of the staircase and now stood in front of Sakura, who had backed away from the railing. "Hello there," The girl said, "I'm so sorry, but I'm afraid your path ends here." The girl stood about two or three inches above Sakura and her long raven hair had been pulled back into a bun. Sakura vaguely recognized the girl's voice but she couldn't pinpoint from where. The ruby-eyed girl, did and cartwheel and a flip and found herself on higher ground blocking Sakura's path further up the never-ending stairs. "Are you ready?" The girl asked and positioned herself in a fighting stance.

"Ready for what exactly?" Sakura asked timidly as she backed away from the other girl.

"Ready to fight of course. You're not getting past me without a fight." The girl replied. "Now, assume your stance and let's get going, I'm not getting any younger." she complained impatiently.

Sakura looked around. There was absolutely no way she could avoid fighting the woman in front of her. Although she had been trained, Sakura hated physical conflict and always chose to resolve matters verbally. But it seemed as though this girl wasn't giving her a choice and it was during times like this that Sakura was thankful not only to the JTPS but also her brother for teaching her to defend herself.

Sakura lowered herself into a back stance, with one arm in front of her and the other over her head, to combat the other girl's horse stance. They stood like that facing each other for a while, each girl sizing up their opponent trying to locate the other's weak points. After five minutes, the raven-haired girl made the first move. She nimbly jumped from her stance, in Sakura's direction, readying her arms to attack. As she got within reach, she extended one of her arms with force hoping to land the blow on Sakura, however, Sakura had already rolled to the side to avoid getting hit. Sakura then took her chance and unleashed a relentless shower of punches and kicks on the other girl, but to Sakura's dismay, the girl was trained well and blocked most of Sakura's attacks, though she did get injured from a particularly nasty blow to her shoulder. Sakura jumped back to catch her breath, she really needed to get back in shape, the other girl however didn't spare her a minute and returned the favor two-fold. Sakura, quick on her feet, managed to move out of the way for the majority of the girl's attacks but as she stooped to avoid the double punch, she was caught off-guard with a leg sweep, knocking her off balance and sprawling her on the floor. The ruby-eyed girl knelt over her with her palm flat and horizontal against Sakura's throat as if to strike her.

"Hm, looks like I win." The girl said remaining in her position, "Care to try again?"

Sakura stared at her incredulously. Her breathing was already raspy and hard, did that girl really expect her to be able to spar a second time?

Noting Sakura's expression, the other girl chuckled, "Didn't think so," she checked her watch, "I have to get my daughter from school anyway. Good fight, let's take a rain check on that second spar, with a little practice, I'm sure you won't be so rusty." The girl stood up and offered a hand to Sakura which she gladly accepted. "Well, later then." The girl back flipped over the edge of the railing and as Sakura peered over to see which direction the girl exited, the square tower was empty. She blinked, that girl seemed sure that they would fight again. If so, then maybe she _should_ practice more. Sakura turned her attention back to the never-ending staircase and continued to climb.

After four more flights of stairs Sakura came across a strange and ornate door. It was lavishly decorated with moulds and paint and even had tassels hanging around the edges. The strange thing was that the door was off to the side and the staircase continued on just like before. She was stumped. Should she go through the door or continue on the path she had been traveling on previously? The door could be a trap, but at the same time the staircase didn't seem to have an end. Choices, choices. Sakura weighed the pros and cons. If it was a trap, then she could just exit back through the door, right? But if this door really was the exit and she passed it straight and continued on the seemingly perpetual stairs then she would be stuck and tired and most likely die if there weren't any other doors.

Well, the answer was obvious then. She would enter the door. Her reasoning and tiredness motivated her to make her choice. So she walked toward the door and reached for the handle, pushing it open and peeking in before she actually stepped foot into the room.

The room was large and mostly empty. The tiled floor formed the shape of a circle surrounded by brick walls painted a deep blue. In front, a little to the right of her, stood a large rectangular table with five chairs positioned behind it, while to the left hung a large screen. How strange. It seemed like a meeting room of sorts. Sakura walked a little toward the furniture however as she got closer she started feeling the same sensation as when she was in the store. She looked to the walls and confirmed her suspicion, there were more metal cylinder jutting out of the wall. So, it was a trap, then.

As this thought ran through her mind the feeling stopped. She looked back to the walls and saw that the cylinders had been retracted. Did someone know she was there? She panicked. So much for sneaking around looking for clues. It seemed as though instead of her looking, she was the one being watched. Sakura decided she would leave before anyone came, but as she attempted to turn back to the door, she realized her feet were stuck. She couldn't move anywhere. What the? Hadn't she just been moving?

There was the sound of a door sliding open and Sakura looked to her left to see Syaoran walking in the room.

"Aha! So it was you!! I knew it, you were just so smug all the time. Now if I could just move, I would walk over there and arrest you for robbery!" Sakura yelled at the newcomer. However at the end of her accusation, Another door opened to her right and in walked Eriol. "It was both of you! Of course, there were two thieves after all. I didn't want to believe it but it had to be the two of you. No matter, Tomoyo will have a second pair of handcuffs for Eriol." Sakura was pleased with herself, she had solved the mystery and caught both thieves. If only she could get to them. How were they moving anyway?

She struggled to shift her feet but they refused to budge. She could merely turn her upper body, which did nothing to intimidate either of the men in the room who were now seated on the second and fourth chairs at the table. "My dear Sakura, please understand that we didn't mean any harm of course." Eriol said to her.

"For the record, no harm was done. There weren't any injuries." Syaoran added after.

"True but what about the jewels! Those belonged to innocent people trying to earn a living." Sakura defended.

"Most of those jewellers were hardly innocent. Besides, all 'stolen' pieces were returned the next day." Syaoran smirked as he revealed this piece of information to the girl.

Returned? Sakura was shocked. "If they were returned then why did the jewellers continue to insist that the jewels were stolen when we questioned them?" She knew the answer before she finished the question. They were paid off of course. That's why they weren't so innocent. She almost felt bad for defending them earlier. "So..the robberies...were all staged? And the videos were edited then?" She had to ask. The footage was too disturbing to believe. Someone couldn't possibly just appear in a store and magically take a jewel.

"So sorry to burst your bubble, but yes the robberies were staged for the most part, however believe what you want about the videos." Eriol spoke kindly to her. As if she were a little child that didn't understand multiplication and he was explaining.

Sakura had stopped struggling, she was trying to process this new information. If this was all true then, what was the point of everything? It certainly wasn't for the money, she figured that out before and it was now confirmed. Then...why..?

Her train of thought was broken when she heard another door open, this time from behind her. It was the same door she had entered from. She swivelled her body to face the entrant only to see Tomoyo peeking her head in from behind the slightly ajar door. "Tomoyo! These are the guys! Your have your handcuffs right? Because I only have one pair. Oh and don't walk along here, it's a trap!" Sakura shouted to her friend whose body was now fully in the room. However, despite her warning, Tomoyo kept walking forward. "No, Tomoyo, I can't move see, if you come closer you'll be stuck too..." but the other girl just kept moving.

"Sakura-chan, remember I said that I wouldn't do anything that wasn't for your own good..." The amethyst eyed girl stared solemnly at Sakura for a few seconds and Sakura's heart burst.

"...You're with them, aren't you..." Sakura whispered, her voice threatening to break with oncoming tears.

The other girl sniffled and nodded her gaze refusing to meet Sakura's eyes. She slowly walked passed Sakura hesitating a little as she neared the girl, but the emerald eyed girl turned away from her 'friend'. Betrayal...just like Adachi, Sakura thought.

As if reading her thoughts, Eriol then spoke up as Tomoyo sat in the fifth seat beside him, "Come now Sakura, my dear, don't be too hard on the girl, it was her job. Surely you must know what it's like to deceive others in the name of your job."

Sakura sent the three seated at the table a death glare, "I don't lie to people I care about," she replied, her voice raspy, she was barely controlling her emotions which was very unlike her.

"Ha!" Syaoran shouted, "What about Eriol and I that day at the ice cream parlour? You weren't completely honest with us then about your job."

"That was different," she whispered just loud enough for them to hear.

"How so?" Syaoran followed up.

Sakura looked up at him, her eyes forming slits. She hated this, she wasn't supposed to get captured. She wasn't supposed to get interrogated. But she knew this was just the beginning, there were after all two more seats that needed to be occupied.

"No answer?" He called tauntingly out to her again. "Not like you to get tongue-tied Sakura. I guess you know there's no difference. You cannot argue that fact!"

"Stop it!" Tomoyo now shouted. "She's not going to respond if that's how you talk to her. She's already unresponsive as it is because we...betrayed her trust."

Syaoran stared unbelievingly at her before reluctantly leaning back in his chair. Eriol spoke this time, "Tomoyo is right, plus we have to introduce the fourth member of this group of ours before we go any further."

At this moment the door to her right, where Syaoran had entered, opened and the girl that she fought before entered the room and quickly took the seat next to Syaoran leaving only the centre seat unoccupied. She should have known of course that this girl would show up here.

"Hey Sakura, I'm Meiling, Syaoran's cousin, I believe we've spoken before our little spar today," the girl spoke as she sat down.

So, who was the last person that was supposed to come? There was one more seat and judging from it's position in the centre of the table, Sakura guessed it was someone important. However, Eriol began speaking indicating that the fifth person wasn't going to arrive soon.

"Well Sakura, I'm sorry to make this situation possibly even harder but we have a proposition for you." the blue-eyed man spoke. Sakura groaned inwardly, she should have known. She did after all say that the room seemed like a meeting room. "We are part of not a terrorist group but merely a group of people wanting to capture a murderer called Kyou Fushin. We need your expertise to aid us as he is very cunning."

The others at the table remained silent and merely looked at her. She examined them, Eriol and Meiling look interested in what answer she was going to give whereas Tomoyo looked as though she was desperate for Sakura to join them and Syaoran simply looked bored. Sakura scowled. Why put her through all of this if they only wanted her help? "Why me?" She asked.

"Well, you have also been affected by his murders and his accomplice I'm sure. You've heard of Adachi Shimura I presume?" Meiling spoke with an easy confidence and her words struck Sakura to her core. Adachi? He was involved with this? Why hadn't this shown up on her research on him recently?

As if reading her mind Syaoran then said, "He's been covering his tracks very well."

Tomoyo then added, "And that's why we need your help Sakura."

Silence filled the room once again. Sakura was lost in thought. It was finally a chance to catch Adachi...get revenge on him for her father. But no, these people, they could just be playing with her. For some reason though, it didn't seem that way. The hopeless look on Tomoyo's face moved her to agree to work with them, but she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else they weren't revealing to her.

"If I agree, then what happen? How would the investigation take place?" Sakura asked. Tomoyo's eyes lit up, she was thrilled that Sakura was actually considering their offer and she knew the others at the table were happy too.

"Well," Meiling started, "If you agree, then we will introduce you to the mastermind behind this operation, and we will lead you to the investigating room."

Eriol then added, "We'll give you a tour as well of the whole headquarters and we'll have to show you to where you'll be staying since it'll be inconvenient for you to return to Japan."

Sakura knew she was right to pack everything of even little value to her. Now she was even glad that she paid that fee for her overweight luggage. This was probably the most information they would tell her without her actually agreeing to join them, she spoke to them again, "What happens if I don't agree?" She had to ask. She needed to explore her options.

Syaoran's smirk disappeared and was replaced by a grim expression, "Sadly, we cannot allow you to walk out of here knowing all this information. We can't have someone revealing our location or the members of this organization. It may jeopardise us you see."

"So...you'll kill me, is that it?" Sakura inquired. Her voice steadier than she felt.

"That, and we'll have to do something about that organization you work for, we can't have this case documented for someone else to investigate. The JTPS will be destroyed," Syaoran answered.

She could handle them killing only her, but that meant innocent people would be killed because of her. She couldn't allow that to happen. She also couldn't allow Adachi to continue his murder spree. Actually, they could also be of use to her. She could use their database to help her search for her brother. Her mind was made up. "Okay...I'll join you. But only under one condition; I'm free to use any of your research facilities."

The four seated at the table looked at one another and after a brief discussion agreed to her demand. Sakura felt a sudden weightlessness and realised she had been released from her trap. She shook out her legs and began to walk toward the other four when she heard another door open from behind the table. She saw the outline of a figure but the person was cast in shadow.

"Allow me to introduce our boss, Sakura," Eriol spoke, "You may know him I'm sure, Mr. Toshihiro Namikawa..."

Namikawa?! The shadowed figure walked toward the table and Sakura immediately recognised him as her boss as well...How was this possible?

"Hello Sakura." the newcomer addressed her.

Sakura stood shocked. Was everyone involved a double agent? "H-hi Sir.." She stuttered.

"We know this may be a bit of a shock for you but we needed you to choose without my influencing you." He explained.

"So...you knew everything, from the beginning? That everything was staged?" Sakura couldn't believe it. This man...he was like a second father to her. If anything, he was a very good actor.

"I'm sorry Sakura, but we wanted to see if you could handle being part of the team. We knew if you could figure out this case, then you were able. The others all went though the same thing of course. We need your trust if we're to work together, so, will you trust us?"

She nodded. Everything was still sinking in. Was that why they chose her? Namikawa had seen her potential and suggested her to the group? That was flattering yet the feeling of betrayal still remained, she wasn't sure if she could trust these people but she knew she would have to if she wanted to find Adachi and with any luck, her brother. "Yes, of course. If this organization is led by you, I'm sure it's trustworthy."

* * *

**To be continued...**

* * *

Done!!!! I hope it's worth the wait, and you enjoyed it. Was it an unexpected ending? I hope it was, I'd hate if it was predictable. But, as long as you liked it I guess. Sorry for any grammatical/spelling errors, I tried my best to pick them out while I was re-reading. 

Anyway, like I said above, I'm taking a vacation from this story until...June I think. Hopefully, for your sake and probably my safety, I'll have two chapters of the next arc already written and two chapters of one of my new stories written as well. So, you have a lot to look forward to by then, if things go as planned. Don't miss me too much! Til next arc.

- INVU4URAQT


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N**: I'm back!! And after a (not so) long vacation, I have the next chapter of Puzzled! I would just like to thank **everyone** that stuck with me through the story so far and I really hope all the veterans and the newcomers as well like the new arc. There's a lot more twists and turns and surprising appearances and revelations. Well, you'll see. So without further delay! Here's chapter 12!!

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own Card Captor Sakura. CLAMP does and they're probably not going to give me any credit whatsoever. So in this story the only thing that's mine is the plot and OC's.

* * *

Emerald eyes darted across the computer screen, absorbing the information that was appearing. So many names, so many people! The woman highly doubted she would find something worth following up on but, she would rather waste her time now than miss something important...actually, scratch that. The auburn-haired girl sighed deeply and exited the window. That was getting her no where and fast. Fushin had killed way too many people for her to possibly be able to find some sort of anagram among the names of his victims.

She was about to get up from the chair, when a blinking light in her peripheral vision caught her attention. She glanced to her right and edged her chair closer to the flashing screen. What was that? She had only recently gained access to this room so she didn't exactly know what everything did. Eriol had given her a tour within the first few weeks but he had cleverly not shown her the exit to the building before he and Tomoyo had to fly out to do more investigating. Now that he was back, maybe she'd finally be able to find how to get out of this place once in a while.

As she got closer, she noticed that the screen asked for her name and password. After a brief consideration, she shrugged and started typing. 'S-A-K-U-R-A'. As she pressed the enter button, the screen stopped blinking and another window popped up in front of her. This window also displayed a list of sorts, however, it was much shorter than the one she had previously been staring at, it wasn't even a whole page. How strange.

Upon further observation, Sakura noticed the list was also one of names and she wondered why these names had been singled out. "Kaho Mizuki, Sonomi Daidouji, Yel-" she whispered to herself, however, before she could read the whole list, the door to the room opened and she quickly turned around. In the doorway stood Namikawa, dressed in his usual suit and tie. He was the only one of the investigation team that did not constantly live at headquarters. He was usually in Japan, he did after all run the JTPS, but whenever he had the chance, he flew over to Hong Kong to join them. Other than these visits, the whole investigation team conferenced with him via a video phone.

Sakura stood up abruptly, a guilty look on her face as though she had just been caught red-handed doing something wrong, and after bowing a little, looked at him embarrassedly. She hadn't been expecting him to return for another week or so. "Hello, Sakura. The others told me you'd be here. Are you getting on fine?" He asked, his eyes glancing briefly to where her attention had been before he entered.

Sakura nodded tightly and replied, "Um, yes sir. I've been doing well here. I think I've managed to adjust and I'm finding my way around a little easier." When she had first arrived, it took her an hour to find the kitchen. She thought she was going to starve. She blushed a little in embarrassment.

"That's good." The older man said and began walking toward her. As he neared, he slowed and his gaze landed on the screen behind her. Sakura turned her head to where he was looking and her blush increased. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to be looking at the information on that screen and now, being caught reading something she may not have had permission to read, was a little more than mortification in her mind. And here she had thought she was good at being elusive. "Sakura, would you like to know how this group was started?" Namikawa asked softly, staring at the screen a little longer before his gaze switched to her.

His gaze was intense and Sakura could merely nod, she did want to know.

He paused a moment before speaking. His eyes were cloudy with memories and although they were focussed on Sakura, his mind wasn't. He was reliving each memory before he would relate them to her. No one spoke for that while. The whole building, it seemed, stayed quiet for the moment when Namikawa would begin the story. However, the pair was disturbed.

The door opened again and Syaoran's frame now stood in the opening, his face frowning. "Toshihiro, I need to speak with you." The younger man spoke, referring to the older man. Sakura still couldn't get accustomed to calling her boss by his first name.

Namikawa seemed to break out of his reverent state and glanced over at Syaoran. "Yes of course. Sorry Sakura, we'll have to take this up another time," he said and walked past Syaoran and out of the room.

Syaoran's glance moved from the older man to Sakura and he glared. "Don't meddle in things you don't understand." He said threateningly, obviously referring to the screen she had been looking at.

Sakura returned the glare. "Well, I wouldn't be in the dark if someone bothered to explain things to me," her voice was dark and so was her expression. She also couldn't get over being lied to and toyed with. To say she didn't trust her new co-investigator would be an understatement. The other members of the team had built up some of her trust over the few months she was here, but it still seemed that Syaoran didn't trust her so she didn't trust him. It was only fair, right?

Syaoran's glare hardened and after a few more seconds, he turned and followed after Namikawa. A triumphant expression crossed Sakura's face. She had won this time. She smiled and decided she would just leave everything alone for now. She grabbed the jacket she had hung on her chair and exited the room, only to come face to face with another member of her new investigating team, Eriol.

"Hello Sakura, how have you been holding up in here?" The man asked gingerly, with a grin across his features.

Sakura glared playfully at him, "Fine, no thanks to you! If you had shown me the exit I wouldn't have been stuck in here in the first place." She hit him lightly on the arm.

"My sincerest apologies," he said, the grin still on his face, "But I didn't see the need in having the possibility of you escaping and having Syaoran have to handle that."

Sakura rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "So how was the trip? Find anything interesting? You two were gone for a long time."

Eriol's face became serious for a few seconds before his eyes softened once more. "Oh nothing out of the ordinary. Frustratingly, there was nothing amiss, Fushin really knows how to set up a murder."

The pair began walking along the corridor. Sakura absorbed this bit of information. Fushin always had the same killing method. Any member of this team could identify a murder as Fushin's doing because of tell-tale signs. There was usually no blood involved. A simple suffocation or poisoning worked effectively enough. He usually struck in the day, which was strange. Everyone expects a murderer to strike at night, which was exactly why he had to be different. Fushin was smart, he knew not to leave any trace of himself behind, and one usually found that the crime scene had been thoroughly cleaned when investigating. He even went so far as to mop the floor once. The only way the team even knew his name was because of an incident that occurred years before, but Namikawa always refused to talk about it.

The two just kept walking with no real place in mind. "Hey Eriol, you mind showing me where the exit to this infernal place is?" Sakura asked and folded her arms. Eriol, in response, chuckled and nodded.

He guided her to her living quarters with the intention of showing her a distinct path. Sakura remembered the first time she had entered the building. The first thing she thought was that it was really white, and clean. He had led her to her room then and left her to get settled. Her room was pink. Obviously they had Tomoyo help decorate it. But she was grateful, it was almost identical to her room in Japan and it made her really comfortable. It was a salvation when things got too much to handle.

When he had returned later in the evening, he had agreed to take her on a tour of the building. He had first shown her the bathroom, then the kitchen and the recreation room in which she found a pool table and a wide screen television. There was an indoor pool along the same corridor and a large library there as well. Sakura had found these two rooms specifically, her favourites.

After showing her the general rooms, Eriol had then decided to show her the rooms more incorporated in investigating. There was the main information room which was where she had just been. The other rooms were mainly for storing evidence and conferencing. There were of course the laboratories in which teams of specialised scientist experimented on every piece of evidence in order to find some clue. But these weren't used very often since there was hardly any evidence to begin with.

Then there were the combat rooms. Both physical and magical combat. Sakura had learnt that Fushin also used magic and that's mostly why the crime scenes never held any type of evidence. Adachi however, couldn't use magic and was therefore the only reason they had been able to track the two of them. He had left fingerprints at various crime scenes and then as if to taunt the law, he went ahead and used his credit cards carelessly. Sakura would expect that though. Adachi was very arrogant about things and death was one of them. But then again, he had been promised unlimited power, she supposed he had a right to be arrogant.

For each type of combat there were different rooms and then even more rooms for the different levels. Both magical and physical combat had varying degrees of aptitude. There was beginner, intermediate and expert levels. Since Sakura had already been trained to fight in the JTPS she hardly used the beginner room and spent more time in intermediate. She had practised at least an hour every day and took Meiling up on her spar. This time, however, they seemed evenly matched and the fight ended only because a meeting had been called, therefore deeming it a tie. There were several more spars after that of course, and they both won alternatively, at the moment Sakura was leading the scoreboard by one win, which she was sure would change in a matter of days.

The magical combat rooms had been a different story though. As soon as she had seen the room, Sakura had begged Eriol to train her. Eriol reluctantly agreed and after gruelling hours in the beginners' room her magic was developing. Sakura practised for hours everyday and now she was almost as good as Eriol and Syaoran in terms of using magic. She had learned to cover her tracks and defend herself against magic attacks. Secretly she had trained by herself though. She was able to block her thoughts and emotions very effectively now without the knowledge of any of the other members, for which she was grateful. Having them able to read her mind was very unnerving, Eriol had done it several times when she had first arrived. Now she could go search for anything from their information base and the others wouldn't know, unless they kept tabs on their search engine.

Now, as Eriol led her through the maze of corridors and doors, she couldn't help but smile as she remembered her first days there. She had come a long way from when she had first met them all and she was proud.

"Okay, well, now that you're at the library, you just turn left and go down the staircase and you're free to leave. Got that?" Eriol said concluding his tour.

Sakura repeated this to herself, left at the library, and nodded her head. "Thanks Eriol."

"Sure, you needed some sun anyway, I wouldn't want you becoming paler than you already are now." Eriol said laughingly.

Sakura slapped him on the arm, "And whose fault is that?" She eyed him.

Eriol shifted his gaze and glanced around the corridor, "You mean to infer that it's my fault?" He asked innocently. Sakura nodded slowly. "But my dear Sakura! You can hardly expect me to be so ungentlemanly as to purposely not show you the exit." He mocked horror.

"Oh shut up Hiiragizawa." She said and they began to walk again with no distinct location in mind.

They had just turned a corner when Eriol's cellphone rang. He answered it and after a brief conversation he turned to Sakura, "There's a meeting now, let's go." They were on the opposite end of the building from the meeting room so they quickened their pace and weaved their way through the labyrinth.

* * *

"What's taking them so long?" an irate Syaoran asked as he placed his feet on the large oval table in front of him.

"Geez, Syaoran, he did say they were on the other side of the building. Of course it's going to take them a while to get here." Meiling muttered sardonically. She too was rocking on the back legs of her chair with her feet crossed on the table.

The room they were in was rather small compared to other possible meeting rooms, with only a single oval table in the centre of the rectangular room. The table had ten chairs surrounding it and though most wouldn't be in use at that particular meeting, well, there were other gatherings that took place.

Namikawa sat at the head of the table, which faced the doorway, in silence. His eyes were closed, his head bowed slightly and his hands rested mechanically on his thighs. If one was not familiar with the man, he would be mistaken for asleep, however, he was merely deep in thought. The information that Eriol and Tomoyo had brought was both good and bad. It meant the investigation could concluded in a matter of days with Fushin captured, but it also meant that sacrifices would have to be made in order to achieve that.

He sighed slightly, his mind was muddled and for the first time in years, he honestly didn't know what to do. His confusion stemmed from the choice between doing what he had wanted to do for years and doing what he thought he owed to a good friend. He had always needed to choose between his friend and his wife before. He chuckled under his breath, even in death they were both contrary. But that didn't help the fact that he still needed to make a decision.

It was obvious Syaoran wanted to capture Fushin, but it was also obvious that the boy's judgement was biased. He had lost his mother and he wanted revenge. He didn't take into consideration the fact that the girl he was so willing to sacrifice had also lost someone important. Hm... Syaoran's plan made sense of course, and under any other circumstances he felt that he would have willingly gone along with whatever the boy said. Syaoran was like a son to him. And yet...yet he was ready to scrap the plan and start from scratch.

He clasped his hands together, ignoring the chatter that was erupting around him. Why wasn't his wife here when he needed her. Oh how he needed her right then. This was the toughest thing he'd ever had to decide since that day all those years ago. He still wasn't sure if his choice had been the right one back then, he had chosen his friend and lost his wife. He often wondered if things would have been different had he chosen differently. He waved those thoughts away. No point in thinking about the past.

Silence prevailed around him and he opened his eyes. He was met with a red-faced Sakura and an out-of-breath Eriol.

"Sorry we're late, what did you want to talk with us about?" Sakura asked in between catching her breath. Namikawa let out a low grunt, he needed to decide now.

* * *

To be continued...

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**A/N**: There you go! It's a little on the short side I know, but there are longer chapters to come. Besides this was mainly a filler chapter to update you on what Sakura has been doing with the team and what the relationship between them all is now. That's very important mind you, so be sure to remember it.

Anyways! I'm back! And there aren't anymore upcoming preoccupations for me so for the next few months or so you'll get regular updates. Speaking of which, I'll be posting my new story soon, it's another CCS but it's more focussed on Tomoyo and Eriol. I decided to turn that one into a romance but in the beginning it's more of an action/adventure/fantasy type thing. There's some drama in there too. So, be on the look-out for that and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!

Review, review, review!!

- INVU4URAQT


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Second chapter!! Well, I did promise you guys, so here it is. I really apologise for ANY plot holes you guys may find in this second arc, even I get confused with/forget details of my own story, which is sort of pathetic but cannot be helped as I'm such an amateur. I would appreciate it if you could bring them to my attention so that when I decide to edit this story, I'll be able to adjust it. Anyways, hope you enjoy it!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Card Captor Sakura, CLAMP does and they're not selling it to me...ever, boohoo...

Onward with the Chapter!

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Sakura and Eriol sat down in the two of the remaining seats after catching their breath. Eriol next to Syaoran and Sakura next to Tomoyo. There was a brief silence where the members of the team stared blankly at each other waiting for Namikawa to speak. 

"Well team, we've gotten some interesting information." Namikawa started with a sigh. He rubbed his temples with thumb and middle finger before continuing. "And thanks to Syaoran here we've managed to turn the information into a way to capture Fushin." Namikawa looked around to judge everyone's reactions.

Syaoran sat calmly, obviously knowing where this was going while Meiling and Tomoyo chattered excitedly about the prospects of catching Fushin. Eriol on the other hand looked slightly wary, trust the blue-eyed man to be cautious of everything. Sakura herself was a little excited, this meant that they could also locate Adachi and then she could finally make him pay for what he's done. Sakura glanced around the room at the others, a small grin on her face. However, the grin wiped off when she looked in Namikawa's direction, his black eyes were searing into her. There was something like...indecision in his eyes. What was he indecisive about?

"So, what's the plan, boss?" Meiling asked, and everyone quieted down as their attention returned to Namikawa.

He sighed once again, "Syaoran, it's your plan, why don't you explain it to them?" He tiredly waved his hand toward the younger man.

Syaoran nodded and stood up. He walked around the table to a corner of the room and pulled down a large screen. He grabbed a remote from the table to his left and operated the projector until an image appeared on the screen. "While Tomoyo and Eriol were investigating, it seemed they stumbled upon some very interesting and unusual information in one of Fushin's rented rooms in London." He paused a while to let that sink in.

Sakura shifted her gaze to Eriol. He had told her they didn't find anything. She scowled lightly, looks like she really couldn't trust him after all. Why had she been fooled twice? As for Tomoyo, her gaze shifted once more, why hadn't she found her and told her about it? Ah well, it wasn't like Sakura had fully trusted any of them again and yet it seemed now the only people she could trust were Meiling and Namikawa.

Syaoran cleared his throat lightly and continued, "They found a slip of paper with some writing on it." He zoomed in on the picture of the room that was being projected and settled the camera on the aforementioned slip. The room was completely neat except for this piece of paper that lay crumpled on the floor near the leg of the bedside table. "The words on the slip gave the supposed location of their next target; Hong Kong, China. I believe the only reason they would venture into China is in order to assassinate the Chief Executive. This note was found in London, meaning it would only take them about a day to get here. Assuming we investigated this room two days after they left, this means they're already here. They haven't tried to make a move yet, which is strange, if they've already been here for a few days, they should have at least made an attempt on his life by now. Which was what led us to think they're not here for the Chief Executive. We're not quite sure what brings them here but the point is they are here and whatever they plan to do can't be good."

The silence was heavy with tension.

"S-so, what are we going to do?" Tomoyo asked timidly.

Syaoran waited a while, glancing at Namikawa as if for permission. The older man nodded a little and Syaoran continued, "Well, most likely they know we're on to them, so none of us can go out openly, except for Sakura." All eyes landed on her as he said this.

"That's right!" Tomoyo exclaimed, "You're the only one of us who Fushin doesn't know."

Sakura's eyes widened, they wanted her to investigate this case? She was shocked, that was such an honour.

"But," Syaoran said, "You won't be investigating or anything. Fushin will catch on to you faster if you do. Also, Adachi Shimura seems to have a preoccupation with you, his recent credit card purchases have mostly been jewellery and upon further investigation, we found the purchases to have sakura petals on them. This makes things easier for us, all you have to do is lure him out into the open and we'll move in to finish everything off."

The silence thickened in the room, if that was possible. What was Sakura supposed to do? Just wait around for Adachi to show up on her doorstep? Or was she supposed to seduce him too? This thought annoyed her. This team...they merely considered her a tool! Something to be used to get the job done. Was this their plan? Talk about not being proactive. She was speechless. Everyone around the table had their eyes on her. The serious expressions on their faces angered her even more. Sakura was careful, however, not to reveal any emotions on her face and to put up a mental block.

"We know this may be a big request for you, but it would be appreciated Sakura," Namikawa spoke this time.

It would be appreciated? So, he agreed to this plan as well. So much for trusting him. If there was anyone here who she thought would know how she felt about this plan, she thought it would be her boss. He was there throughout the whole Adachi incident. He knew how much she hated him and he knew she hated being used. And yet here he was readily agreeing to this plan and had the gall to try and coax her into agreeing.

But maybe they weren't trying to use her, a little voice in her mind reasoned with her. They hadn't known Fushin was coming to Hong Kong and she _was_ the only member of the team that was undiscovered by Fushin. Maybe they really needed her to do this. And she could get revenge at the same time since she would be meeting with Adachi. She looked around the room observing the others carefully. She would have to agree with them. What else could she do? If this was the best plan they could come up with then they would _have_ to follow through with it, after all who knew how long Fushin would stay in one place? She sighed defeated and looked up to respond but noticed something new.

Eriol was rigid, he too had put up a mental block so she couldn't read his thoughts. Hm, strange. Syaoran looked smug as though he knew she couldn't say no. Another mental block. Tomoyo and Meiling sent each other knowing glances. Something was wrong here. Hm, she would ponder on that later. "I'll play my part in this plan." She spoke confidently, she would show them. If they were using her there was nothing she could do about that. But if not, then she would do her best.

* * *

Two days later found Sakura in her rented hotel room looking out the window at the sunset on the thirty-seventh floor of the fanciest high-rise hotel in Hong Kong. The plan was to act natural by pretending she was just taking a vacation from JTPS while at the same time keeping an eye out for either Adachi or Fushin. The rest of the team decided to divide their time between headquarters and another room they had rented which was a couple rooms away from hers. She sighed, she had thought about the various reactions she had seen for days and could only come up with the feeling that they knew something she didn't. 

She lightly fingered the locket around her neck. She had discovered that it was some sort of key to the headquarters. Scanning it opened any lock. It amazed her that she had the locket for so long and she thought nothing of it. Recently she made sure, more than before, to always have it on her. Not only for possible locked doors but also because it seemed comforting to have it with her. Seeing her family members all in the photo together gave her encouragement even when things seemed hopeless. Now, more than ever, when she felt despair, she needed some encouragement.

She sighed as the phone rang. She trudged over to it and answered.

"Sakura? We're having a meeting in this room. Come join us." Tomoyo spoke cheerfully to her. Sakura smiled a little and said she would be there in a little while. Sakura grabbed her sweater, pocketed her wallet after hanging up and walked out of her room. She didn't bother taking the microphone they had given her to wear since she was meeting with the people who would be listening in anyway. She walked down the hall, stopped in front of the room and fished out the key they had given her. She silently opened the door and was about to call out when she heard voices coming from the kitchen area. They were out of her view but she knew just who was there.

"I'm not sure about this," Came Tomoyo's soft voice.

"Yeah, me neither." Eriol spoke just as softly.

Syaoran growled, "What's there not to be sure of? She agreed and that's all that matters."

"Nice touch with mentioning Adachi," Meiling's cool voice spoke.

"Yeah well, I knew she would hesitate if I didn't mention him. Not that I was lying, he did buy lots of sakura petal jewellery. We knew they would try to contact her eventually, it was just good that we got to her first. Plus, we've been planning this for months, I wasn't about to let her disagree with the plan, and mentioning Adachi sealed the deal..." Syaoran's voice faded out as his words clicked in Sakura's mind.

They were planning this for months? They knew he would try to contact her? They knew everything. It was official, they were using her. Everyone was in on it. Even Namikawa. A new found resentment filled her. Resentment towards Adachi, towards Namikawa and everyone else involved in this stupid investigation.

Sakura turned on her heel and walked back out of the room, resisting the urge to slam the door, only leaving it slightly ajar so they wouldn't hear her closing it. Once she was back in the hall, she began running. She ran toward the elevator, not bothering with the rest of her stuff back in the room. Tears were beginning to cloud her vision. If it was one thing she hated, it was betrayal, and that was exactly what she was experiencing again on five accounts. Well, four, she didn't really ever trust Syaoran. When she reached the end of the hall at the elevator, she frantically pushed the button. She needed to leave. She would take out some money from her account and fly back to Japan. She'll move back into her old house and try to live a relatively normal life. She would just forget everyone. The elevator opened and she ran in, only to bump into someone coming out.

"Sakura?" It was Namikawa's voice. He noticed the glistening tears in her eyes and pulled her into a hug, "Sakura, what's wrong?"

Sakura pushed him away and out of the elevator before it closed and pressed the button to the ground floor. Before he could react, the elevator doors fully closed and she began descending. Sakura sighed and sunk down to the floor, her back against wall. Her tears began to fall. It was at times like this when she wished she had her family. At least she would have someone to comfort her that hadn't actually betrayed her. She clutched her locket once again and the tears came harder.

She should have known, though. Things were just moving too fast for it to be a coincidence. They had found so many clues on Fushin in such a short amount of time. If he was so elusive then why would he suddenly become so careless with dropping evidence. Especially if he knew there were people searching for him. The only explanation was that the investigation team had known everything before. Which meant that Fushin had been in China for more time than they had said. Yet, he hadn't murdered anyone. What if he had come to meet her. But she was in Japan before, no one knew she had gone to China, so wouldn't that be their first stop? And more importantly, what would they want with her? It was all a big race wasn't it? A race to see who could get to her first.

The elevator doors opened to show Sakura standing now. A determined look on her face. The tears had disappeared with barely any trace left except for the redness of her eyes. She would no longer be a mere pawn in their larger game of chess. She would be the queen. Not only ruling over them but also being the most powerful piece on the board. She nodded resolutely as she stepped onto the ground floor. She would take matters into her own hands. With that thought resounding in her head she marched out of the hotel.

* * *

"What is the meaning of this?" Namikawa's voice pierced the silence in the room. A silence that was heavy with guilt and intimidation. Namikawa was normally a mild mannered man, to see him get so distraught about what had just occurred, surprised everyone, especially Syaoran. 

"We didn't know she was there," Meiling spoke uncharacteristically timidly.

Namikawa gave a heavy sigh and brought his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "The point is you knew she was coming. I hope you all understand that this most likely means Fushin will get his hands on her," He said tiredly, sighing again before continuing, "He needs her as much as we do, probably more so since he can use her intelligence as well. We need to do everything in our power to get her back with us. Any ideas?" His eyes scanned the small kitchen noting the dismay across each member's face.

"Let's face it," Eriol began, "she's not going to trust us even if we think of some way to keep her away from Fushin."

Tomoyo's eyes brightened, "That's it! We don't necessarily need her back with us, we just need to make sure she's safe."

"You mean babysit." Came Syaoran's bored tone.

"If you want to put it like that yes," Tomoyo glared at him, " And don't sound so arrogant Syaoran, it's your fault we're in this mess to begin with," Her voice was cold.

"Well, Tomoyo, it was you who brought it up in the first place with your insecurities," Syaoran replied harshly, his eyes narrowing in a dangerous glare.

"Stop fighting! We need cooperation, at least!" Namikawa shouted. Everyone immediately got quiet. If it was one thing they knew it was not to anger Toshihiro Namikawa. "Anyway, I believe Tomoyo was on to something with her idea. We just need to look after Sakura until Fushin has turned his attention elsewhere. It needs to be a collective effort since, as Eriol noted, she's not going to trust us individually any time soon especially not as a guardian."

The four others in the room nodded, some more reluctantly than others. Namikawa waited a while before continuing again, "Alright, first we need to find her. If there's any chance she's still in the hotel, then most likely it'll be on the ground floor. If not then she's probably in a park of some sort. Nature always calms her, or animals. I'll stay here in case she returns to get her stuff. Eriol and Tomoyo, I need you both to look around the city while Syaoran and Meiling, you two scour the hotel, you can join Eriol and Tomoyo afterwards if there's no sign of her." The group nodded and stood up to begin their various searches. It was going to be a long evening.

* * *

The first thing Sakura did on her own after extracting money from her account, was buy a cellphone. Simple, but necessary as she needed some medium to communicate with others. She figured if they were going to use her, then she would use them as well, after all, they did have a deal. She still intended to use their database of information not only to help her find her brother but now she would be able to build her own conclusions about Fushin from their data rather than blindly accepting everything. 

Next she would need somewhere to stay. That was tricky however, she wasn't sure if they were looking for her, but if that was the case then most likely they would check each hotel and motel in the area. She decided she would give them a day or two before checking in somewhere. In the mean time, she could stay anywhere, it wasn't as though she had a suitcase full of stuff to carry around. She would just have to deal with not being able to take a shower for another day. A small price to pay though for the ability to avoid the whole lot of them.

She did buy one new outfit though, a pair of baggy black cargo pants and a black t-shirt. She was trying to blend in so she disposed of her old jeans and blouse, choosing only to keep her grey sneakers. She opted to keep her own hair colour as well, merely styling it differently. Blending in and disguising herself were becoming synonymous at that moment. She bought a pair of shades and slipped them carelessly on her face, being sure to keep her eye out for anyone that remotely resembled a member of the investigation team.

She walked briskly down the pavement toward the entrance of the street market she was at. The market opened out to a large park that Sakura was careful to avoid. No doubt Namikawa had informed them of her fondness for nature by now. No doubt either that a park would be the first place they would check for her, other than the hotel of course. She trailed behind a large crowd that was also leaving and followed them until she was a few metres away from the park. Ducking into an alley, she leaned against the wall and peered out sighing in relief, no one was there. She slipped out as inconspicuously as possible and continued on her way along the narrow side street lit by a few street lamps.

As she walked, an eerie feeling washed over her and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. It felt as though she were being followed. She glanced behind out of the corner of her eye and noticed the street empty. She shook her head to dismiss the feeling but it refused to leave. She heard a soft crunching sound behind her and her eyes widened. She was definitely being followed. She would hate herself if it was anyone from the team, but then having _anyone_ follow her was unnerving to begin with. She rounded a corner and bumped into a crowd of people. However, as she was shoved to the side, she caught a glimpse of familiar black hair.

Sakura swirled around, taking off her sunglasses to get a better look, and just as the crowd passed a single figure remained facing her. Her eyes widened in shock. "S-Shimura?" She croaked, her voice suddenly abandoning her. Adachi Shimura stood in front of her just as regal as the last time she'd seen him. His grey eyes just as piercing and his black hair still spiked in the same style as two years before.

"Sakura, Sakura, do you loathe me so much that we've reverted to last names? Even after what we had together?" The man stepped toward her, leaving only a foot of distance between them.

Sakura stood her ground. She was not scared of him. "Say what you like Shimura, but what you did was unforgivable, I have reason enough to hate you." She stared straight into the grey eyes she once felt respect for. Now, he was nothing. They stood in the middle of the street with Sakura facing the direction in which she had come. "What do you want?"

His eyes glinted with a mixture of amusement before turning serious, "Kura, I've wanted to see you for a while," he spoke using the nickname he had given her before.

Her eyes narrowed, "Don't call me that. And would your need to see me have anything to do with your boss Kyou Fushin?" Her tone was acidic as the words escaped her mouth.

"I admit Fushin-sama gave me the opportunity to see you again, however I've always thought we worked so well as a team before-"

"'Before' being the operative word Shimura. We've both changed considerably." She pointed out to him.

His penetrating gaze was fixed on her for what seemed like forever, "Yes, you have changed, Kura. I think, however, that despite those changes we can both find it beneficial for you to... reconsider my previous offer to you."

"Offer?" she inquired.

"Yes, Kura, join me," he stated softly.

Her eyes softened slightly reverting from the hard glare she had fixated him with, to a look of curiosity. Despite her deep hatred for the man before her, there was still a part of her that was affected by his presence and his sudden appearance back into her life, and now he was asking her to join him on the supposedly evil side? She shook her head, "No, I can't do that." She silently cursed her voice for wavering momentarily.

Adachi's lips curved upward slightly, he knew he had her then, "Kura, I know what happened. I know they were planning to use you. I tried to get to you before they could break your spirit. I'm sorry I was late." His voice sounded sincere.

Sakura remained staring into his eyes. The emotions were swirling within her. Should she really trust him? After he slaughtered her father and countless others, all in the pursuit of power? But then, he did mention trying to get to her. Her hunch had been right, it was a race.

"Kura... We need you." His voice was earnest now. Those three words released something within Sakura. They needed her?

"Sakura!" A faint shout came from behind Adachi. Sakura's eyes darted over the man's shoulder and saw Tomoyo running toward her with Eriol, Meiling and Syaoran not far behind. Her mind froze in shock of the situation she was in. Tomoyo and the others were chasing her, Adachi needed her and who was that by the alley...? No time to think on that now. Adachi was already ducking into another alleyway where he probably had an escape route in order to not get caught. She glanced between Adachi's retreating back and Tomoyo's approaching form.

"Adachi, wait! I'm going with you." Sakura shouted to him, anything was better than going back with the others and right now Adachi was the fastest escape route. She slipped back on the sunglasses and ran toward him, noting his shocked but smug face. He enfolded her in his arms and they approached a sleek, black motorcycle. Adachi tossed her a helmet and after they both secured it, they hopped onto the bike with Adachi in front and Sakura holding onto him from behind. Adachi revved the engine and zoomed out of the alley in the opposite direction of the others. Sakura felt the wind whipping against her bare arms as her surroundings began to blur. She glanced back briefly and vaguely heard Tomoyo's voice calling her name once more.

* * *

To be continued...

* * *

There you go. Chapter 13 just like I promised. Hopefully there's nothing wrong with this chapter. I tried really hard to make sure everything was at least semi-believable. Anyways, I guess it really is unlucky chapter 13, I mean, Sakura switched sides! (gasp). What will the investigation team do now? And will they eventually have to face off with Sakura? If you want to know, stay tuned! And thanks for reading! 

Review review review!

- INVU4URAQT

* * *


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N**: Oh my, thanks SO MUCH to everyone who gave me feedback as well as encouragement and also thanks to those who are merely reading this story. It's good to know that my writing is being read in the first place. Anyways, I'm back finally. Sorry about the long wait, but lots of things came up. That's also why the chapter is so short. I decided I'd rather give you a short chapter before I leave for vacation than no chapter. I promise I'll have two chapters ready by August 21st (which is when I'm coming back).

**DISCLAIMER**: Card Captor Sakura is under the ownership of CLAMP and I have no claims to it whatsoever. This storyline however as well as other characters not pertaining to the series, are of my own imagination and are purely fictional.

* * *

Ten minutes later Adachi stopped his motorcycle in front of an old dilapidated building about twelve blocks from where they had been. The building seemed to have once been a bar, judging from the keg painted on the faded sign and the long counter that Sakura encountered once she stepped inside.

Adachi walked confidently, weaving through the broken chairs and tables that lined the floor, until he stood behind the counter. "Watch your step, this place was closed after a huge fight and they never bothered to clean it up." Huge fight indeed, Sakura thought as she tentatively stepped around the pieces of wood jutting out of the ground. She whimpered a little as two pieces poked into her leg, however the pain was duller in one area than the next. Her hand instantly went to the dulled area and she felt a flexible rectangular object and a small oval shaped object in that pocket. She didn't remember putting anything there. She decided to take a look later and made her way over to Adachi.

He was stooping down, facing the wall, and studying the pattern of the bricks. "Okay Kura, lesson number one; in order to enter our base you merely have to slide your finger along the grooves of this brick, and the door opens." He pointed at a brick that was six widths above the floor and three lengths away from the corner. He slid his finger around the perimeter of the brick and the small extent of wall between the counter and the back wall slid backward and across revealing a small spiral staircase. Without hesitation, Adachi stood up and stepped onto the staircase. "Come along Kura," he said and began his decent of the seemingly unstable metallic structure.

Sakura eyed it warily. Did she really want to risk her life by stepping onto that thing? She glanced down to the bottom and noticed that the entire staircase swung as Adachi jumped off the last stair. She gulped, there was no other choice was there? Her foot hovered above the first step for a full 30 seconds before she decided to make contact. Surprisingly the staircase was steady as she made her way down. It didn't swing or creak once. But she still released a sigh of relief when she finally stood on firm ground.

"Scared of heights?"

Her eyes shot up when she heard the scratchy voice and her vision landed on a cloaked figure standing a few feet away. The man – she presumed it was a man – was shorter than her by a few inches and was completely shadowed by the black cloak he was wearing. Not even his hands were visible under the long sleeves. His being gave her chills. His presence disturbed her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Everything told her that he was bad news.

"No need to be nervous dear. Perhaps you would like to freshen up before we are properly introduced." His voice was slow and condescending and Sakura didn't appreciate it. But she forced herself to bite her tongue, this would be the perfect time to check her pocket. "Adachi, take Miss Kinomoto to her quarters and see to it that she is in quadrant three in an hour's time." With that said he walked off.

Adachi then took Sakura's hand and headed in the opposite direction. He led her down a few corridors before they stopped in front of a door. "This is your room, I'll be back in forty five minutes to get you."

After he took off down the hallway, Sakura entered her room and locked the door before turning to inspect it. She checked every inch of the small room and was pleased to find that there were no cameras or microphones. It was a dreary room with only a lamp, table and bed. But it would do. Sakura was accustomed to less than comfortable living conditions.

She stood at the side of the bed, pulled out the rectangular object from her pocket and found it to be a piece of paper. She unfolded it and what she read made her eyes widen.

* * *

"I can't believe it..." Tomoyo's voice was full of disbelief. She, Eriol, Syaoran and Meiling were still standing in the road in which they had just seen Sakura ride off with Adachi.

Meiling turned away from the settling dust to face the others, "I thought Shimura was her enemy."

Eriol turned to her with a distant expression on his face, "We thought so too."

"I knew it! I knew we shouldn't have trusted her. She never trusted us, we should have followed her example." Syaoran shouted to the relatively empty street.

Eriol sighed, "Calm down Syaoran, we all know you're only upset because you think Toshihiro favours her."

Syaoran's face contorted in anger, "That's not true! I figured if she didn't trust me why should I trust her."

Tomoyo groaned in exasperation, "You two are so much alike it's not even funny."

"Hello, we have a crisis on our hands here people!" Meiling said, gesticulating to get everyone's attention. "Sakura willingly went with Adachi! This means that she's now on Fushin's side. She knows everything about our investigation and probably won't hesitate to tell him either. We've lost all chances of capturing him now. Especially since Sakura is so skilled."

The others instantly quieted. They stood still and glanced solemnly at each other. "We need to inform Toshihiro." Eriol said breaking the silence. With that fateful statement they all turned and began to head back to their headquarters.

* * *

Sakura was sitting idly on the bed for fifteen minutes before she heard the knock on her door signalling that Adachi had returned to take her to 'quadrant three'. She stood after the third knock and opened the now unlocked door to see Adachi in a new outfit. He was previously dressed in a dark gray suit with a black dress shirt beneath but now he was in navy blue slacks with a matching t-shirt. To Sakura, he looked as if he was about to take a jog. She bit back her laughter as she followed him down the halls.

"It's really great to be working with you again Kura." He flashed her a grin before turning back to face the direction they were walking in.

Sakura smiled in reply. She wasn't sure if 'great' was the word she would have used. The fact was she hated him. Although there was a part of her that couldn't let go of her previous attraction to him, the horrible things he did far outweighed the good things. But, she just happened to hate the investigation team more at the moment and wanted to be anywhere but around them, even if it meant having to be around Adachi. She had self control, she wouldn't randomly kill him yet.

After another few minutes of walking, Adachi stopped in front of a large metallic door. He took a card out of his pocket and slid it into a groove on the side of the door which then opened to reveal a large rectangular room. The ceiling was high and the walls painted a deep burgundy colour.

"Ah, Sakura, it has been a while, yes?" The cloaked figure began as he stood with his back to Sakura in one of the only carpeted rooms in this base.

"We've met before...? Before today I mean." Sakura asked unsurely.

He emitted a low chuckle before continuing, "Oh yes, of course we have." He turned around and Sakura could partially see his face as the hood didn't shroud it as much as before. "But you were quite young then, so I should not expect you to remember such a frivolous thing." His lips looked chapped and his skin was unusually pale. His eyes shone from within the shadow of the hood but Sakura could not see the exact colour of them.

"Before we continue though," He spoke again and walked toward her. When he reached a foot in front of her he extended his hand, clasped the locket that was around her neck and yanked it off. In one quick movement he crushed it and scattered the tiny pieces on the floor between them. "that needed to be destroyed."

Sakura reached around her neck, a shocked expression on her face, "W-what? Why? That was the only thing I had left of my family!" She shouted.

He shrugged slightly and took up his previous position a few feet in front of her. "It was also a tracking device my dear."

Sakura gasped, "A tracking device? Who...?" Sakura's eyes were wide with disbelief.

There was another low chuckle and Fushin continued, "No need to concern yourself with that now. It may be better if you didn't know. But I digress, we've more important things to discuss. As you may know, I am Kyou Fushin. And as of now you are my subordinate."

* * *

"Where is she?"

The whole group spun at the foreign voice. After meeting up with Namikawa in the lobby and informing him of their meeting with Sakura, they had decided to return to their normal headquarters, so they headed back to the temporary base intent on packing up their stuff. However, there sitting in one of the chairs was a man with spiky dark brown hair and matching coloured eyes.

Syaoran stepped forward, "Who are you and what makes you think you have permission to be here?"

"Listen kid, if it concerns Sakura, I have permission to be anywhere. Where's the old man? He'll know who I am." The man stood from the chair, his frame taller than Syaoran's by a few inches.

"Who are you calling a kid?!"

"Calm down Syaoran," Namikawa spoke now. He emerged from behind the others and now stood beside Syaoran staring at the young man before them. "Hello Touya."

"Old man, where is Sakura?" Touya asked rudely as he remained seated facing them.

"What makes you think we would know where she is?" Namikawa replied, his voice and gaze steady.

Touya emitted a sarcastic laugh, "Don't play with me old man. I know she was here with you, just tell me whether or not you know where she is now."

"Hold on a second! What's the meaning of this? Who are you?" Syaoran, who was writhing in anger at both being called a kid and being ignored, spoke now. The three other young people muttered their inquiries as well and Namikawa pinched the bridge of his nose.

"How about we talk about this over some tea?" the older man suggested, "I will explain who Touya is and he can explain why he's here now." Namikawa headed into the kitchenette area of the room while Syaoran and Eriol pulled some chairs for the girls, themselves and Namikawa. As they sat and waited for the tea to finish brew, a glaring competition ensued between Syaoran and Touya while the others merely stared curiously at the man before them.

Namikawa emerged a few minutes later with a pot of tea and six teacups. When everyone had fixed their own tea Namikawa spoke, "I would like to introduce you all to Touya Kinomoto, Sakura's brother."

Syaoran and Tomoyo stared in disbelief between Namikawa and Touya while Meiling openly stared at the newcomer and Eriol's usually collected composure was slightly bristled.

"Sakura's brother?" Meiling muttered more to herself than anyone else but everyone's thoughts seemed to revolve around the same question.

Touya grunted in annoyance at their gawking as well as an affirmation for Meiling's rhetorical question. "That's right, Sakura's brother. Now where is she? And give me a straight answer so I can stop wasting my time with you."

"First of all Touya, I want to know why you're here, or actually, how you knew she was here before." Namikawa sipped his tea and replaced the cup on a small saucer before returning his questioning gaze on the man across from him.

Touya grunted again before replying, "Actually, I've been tracking Sakura ever since I left all those years ago. I installed a tracking device on the locket she always wears and kept tabs on her whereabouts. Up until now that is. The tracking device isn't instantaneous as the newer ones are and needs at least two hours to send an accurate signal as to where she is. However, it appears the tracker went offline, if you get my meaning, before it was able to give her present location. The last place the tracker signalled was at an intersection near one of the street markets around here. I back tracked my information on her to here, as it was the last definite place she had been for longer than an hour. Now, care to tell me whether you know her current whereabouts?"

The others in the room stared silently long after Touya had finished speaking, none daring to speak a word despite the demand. Touya groaned exasperatedly, "Fine, I'll assume that the silence means you'd rather not tell me which in turn means you either don't know where Sakura is or you don't like where she is. Neither of which helps me in any way." He stood from the chair and made his way to the other end of the room, toward the windows. "Nice seeing you again, old man."

With that statement he opened the largest of the three windows along that wall and prepared to jump. However Namikawa stopped him, "Wait. You're right, we don't particularly like who she is with and we also don't know where she is with these people. But, maybe we can help each other."

Touya froze with one arm on the window frame and turned his head back, "I'm listening."

"I'm sure you're still working with Tsukishiro, and we're after the same thing, albeit indirectly, but nonetheless, if we pool our information, then I'm sure we can both get what we want." Namikawa stared unblinkingly at Touya, almost challenging him to decline the offer.

"Alright, I'll co-operate for now. I presume you're returning to your previous location? Well, Yuki and I will meet you there." He turned back to the window and after a few seconds pause, he jumped.

Syaoran ran to the window and looked out before turning to the others with mild disbelief in his eyes, "He's gone. He hardly had magical powers and yet he disappeared."

* * *

To be continued...

* * *

A/N: There you go. Short but kind of exciting right? So, Touya's appeared!! And he's working with them? More twists coming up in the next few chapters so stay tuned! I apologise once again for the shortness of this chapter and the long wait for the next one, but it couldn't be helped. So, tell me what you think!

-INVU4URAQT


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